ITALIAN FOR BEGINNERS (15) This, the 12th film to be made under the Dogme contract, is a whimsical tale of love lost and found in a close-knit church community in Copenhagen. Pastor Andreas (Anders W Berthelsen) arrives in town to temporarily replace
ROADKILL (15) Practical jokes have a horrible habit of backfiring, as two brothers learn to their cost in Roadkill - a fiendishly entertaining thriller which grasps you by the scruff of the neck, and refuses to let go for 97 nerve-shredding minutes. During
A DEFIANT knock of 80 by John Crawley was the only bright spot for Hampshire as Leicestershire took control on the second day of their Frizzell County Championship Division One clash at the Rose Bowl yesterday. Crawley, who last week compiled an epic
YOU know, I like being a guitarist and all that, and I take a modest degree of pride in my meagre accomplishments to date (being told to 'turn it down' by the bloke who ended up directing the video for Oops, I Did It Again by Britney Spears, breaking
DOUBLES glory for Dorset stars David Sanger and Richard Irwin handed West Hants National League victory over Hampshire Club after the Southampton outfit had overturned an early 2-0 deficit. Number three Shaun Harrop-Keenan got West Hants off to a flying
Bristol Manor Farm 1 Bridport 0 A LACK-LUSTRE display at The Creek cost Bridport the chance of securing their Screwfix Direct Premier Division future. A win or even a draw against fellow strugglers would have virtually clinched survival for the Bees.
MIKE Beales, who beat Bournemouth club-mate Clive Bunford in the area semi-final of the national singles this year, confirmed his superiority in the Dorset Singles final. Beales had edged that national encounter 21-20 after a battle royal and it was a
UNDERSLUNG nets made in Bridport came in handy when six pedigree cows got marooned on a sandbar in the middle of the Humber. The Charolais heifers were hauled to safety by an RAF search and rescue helicopter after breaking loose from a nearby farm and
NOVELIST Jilly Cooper is backing Bridport's Allington Hill extension fund. Jilly is a member of the Woodland Trust - the UK's largest woodland conservation charity - and says that making woods bigger is one of the best things than can be done to protect
FRIDAY (26) West Side Story, Weymouth Pavilion 'Allo, 'Allo, Bridport Arts Centre Joe Longthorne, Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth SATURDAY (27) Mike Dowling, Dorchester Arts Centre 'Allo, 'Allo, Bridport Arts Centre Duncan Honeybourne and the Dorset Philharmonic
GIFTED Dorset pianist Duncan Honeybourne gives two concerts with the Dorset Philharmonic Orchestra this weekend. On Saturday at 7.30pm he will perform Rachmaninov's Second Symphony at Sir John Colfox School, Bridport, and at 3pm on Sunday at Port Regis
YOU are invited to come to the Cabaret next week when the Kander and Ebb classic is performed at the Regent Centre, Christchurch. It is a tale of romance and war centred on the notorious Kit-Kat Club in prewar Berlin and singer Sally Bowles. The play
A virulently anti-war tale from ancient Greece will be performed at Bridport Arts Centre next week. Trojan Women, which is adapted from the original by Euripedes, is set in the aftermath of the Balkans war, when all the men are dead and the women herded
ANYONE who enjoys top drama, ascerbic comedy, fine music, excellent literature and top-flight discussion should make their way to the county town next week. Next Thursday sees the start of the fourth Dorchester Festival, which promises to offer five days
A WEYMOUTH town centre eyesore is to be made secure today after asbestos was found on the site. Windows and doors at the former Centenary Club have been smashed by vandals who have also battered holes in walls made from asbestos cement-type materials,
A 23-YEAR-old Dorset man was killed after his car was in collision with a lorry on a notorious stretch of road. He was driving a Vauxhall Nova towards Yeovil on the A37 near Maiden Newton when it was involved in a smash with a Volvo articulated lorry
SUPERBUGS may be resisting antibiotics in hospitals by sending each other warnings, two Dorset scientists have claimed. Alan Parsons and Richard Heal, who work at Winfrith-based laboratory QinetiQ, have shocked the science world by discovering that bacteria
PROTESTERS have set up home in a pink castle to 'defend' a field from genetically modified crops. The group of 20 people, including five children, have erected a makeshift camp in a field near Horselynch Plantation in Weymouth and say they will not move
EVERY beach in Dorset has been given a clean bill of health for the first time. The Marine Conservation Society (MCS) said that the county's golden sands were among the best in the country as it launched this year's Good Beach Guide today. The news is
MORE than 200 children's designs took to the skies in the run-up to this year's Weymouth kite festival. Displays from year four schoolchildren at St Andrew's, Portesham and Bincombe Valley first schools are being given test-flights along Weymouth beach
CAMPAIGNERS today renewed their calls for a public inquiry after the release of a detailed report into secret germ warfare tests carried out in Dorset. People are also seeking reassurances that no further trials will be carried out in the county. Reports
PUPILS at Wey Valley School are hoping to strike it rich by throwing themselves into a fund-raising campaign to scoop sports college status. All of the Broadwey, Weymouth, school's 1,350 pupils are taking part in a week-long sponsored bowling fest as
SCHOOLCHILDREN showed off their musical talents with a special community concert. Fifty-four youngsters from Years Three and Four at Broadmayne First School, near Dorchester, took part in the event and wowed the audience with a number of instrumental
A PRIMARY school headteacher has resigned amid claims of being undermined by a small group of parents and governors. Josie Butcher - in charge at Powerstock for the past five years - quit after getting tired of the continual challenges to her role. Governors
YOUNG people have worked with Aborigines in Australia, trekked through the jungle in Borneo and climbed uncharted mountains in Canada, all thanks to Paul Williams. He has welcomed 1,500 youngsters through the doors of his successful youth centre in the
A RARE opportunity for Dorset firms to trade in the heart of the US economy has been created by Dorset Chamber of Commerce & Industry. On June 8, DCCI is leading a trade mission on to Tennessee - a state that claims to be the ideal location for UK
DORSET County Council came under bombardment at a meeting of Lyme Town Council's publicity committee on Tuesday night. The shots were fined by senior councillors Stan Williams and Ken Meech who condemned the county authority for failing to carry out jobs
HOPES of cheaper beer following budget tax cuts could turn flat for for real ale drinkers across West Dorset. The Chancellor's picture of rural pubs selling pints at up to 14p less than the current price was dismissed this week as political froth. All
A GRIEVING mother-of-two whose husband died of cancer on his 31st birthday has paid an emotional tribute to the friends staging a football tournament in his memory. Avid sports fan Lee Hawkins - a school pal of Jamie Redknapp and his brother Mark - succumbed
ABOUT A BOY (12) ENGAGING adaptation of Nick Hornby's best-seller - see review. ROADKILL (15) TWO brothers play a practical joke on a lonely trucker and things go off the rails big time - see review. JOHN Q (15) Oscar winner Denzel Washington is cash-strapped
JOHN Q (15) John Q is a gripping morality tale born of every parent's worst nightmare: Watching helplessly as a child succumbs to terminal illness. Denzel Washington plays John Q Archibald, who works in a factory to provide for his family and does not
ABOUT A BOY (12) Paul and Chris Weisz, who served up the original slice of American Pie, opt for a radical change of direction with this adaptation of Nick Hornby's best-seller. They should be applauded: About A Boy is a rousing success, striking a delicate
SWANAGE Town Council is appealing for residents' views on plans to transform a recreation ground which has been continually blighted by vandalism and anti-social behaviour. The proposals include building a new sports pavilion, children's play area and
JEHOVAH'S Witnesses from 17 congregations between Swanage and New Milton donated £9,000 to buy a hospital a machine to minimise blood loss during surgery. But, thanks to a special deal, the Royal Bournemouth Hospital's operating theatres ended up with
FRIDAY (26) Hot Stuff (Maiden Newton Village Hall): Pete Wright takes to the bass as works from Shaniah Twain, The Corrs and Dire Straits are wrought live. The Craze (Mariners, Weymouth): Sex Pistols, Jam and Buzzcocks covers from a band hailing from
LYME Regis ladies were on tour this week. The top team of Anne Humphries, Roisin Burree, Rion Culpan and Ellie Langford went to Enmore Park for the Mail on Sunday contest but came away losers by three matches to one. Much better were the bronze team V
FOUR months ago Poole was united in celebrating the government's announcement that it was not only approving a second harbour bridge for the town but was also providing £14 million towards the cost. Now the political in-fighting has begun and the whole
A £15,000 machine to screen people for brittle bones has been bought for Bridport Community Hospital by the league of friends. The new machine measures bone density and will be used at a weekly clinic to help diagnose those at risk of developing osteoporosis
INDUSTRIAL-style railings along a popular riverside walk in Bridport got the thumbs-down this week from people who live nearby. The railings have been put up alongside the River Asker in Back Rivers Lane to stop people from falling in, the Environment
A PRIMARY school headteacher has thrown in the towel after her decisions were continually challenged by a small number of parents and governors. Josie Butcher, head teacher at Powerstock for the past five years, has resigned because she feels her role
BEAMINSTER Festival organisers have raised £22,000 for this year's event - more than double the amount raised in previous years. "This is a marvellous effort by everybody working on the sponsorship group," says co-ordinator Roger Laverack. This year's
SWEET choral music can be heard in one of the county town's most famous churches next Saturday when the chamber choir Petertide and recorder consort Serendipity perform together. Vivaldi's Gloria, Mendelssohn's Hear my Prayer, the Allegri Miserere and
THURSDAY, May 2 An Evening with Germaine Greer, Corn Exchange (8pm) A Tribute to Nick Drake, Thomas Hardy Hall (8.30pm) FRIDAY, May 3 Street Theatre, South Street (from 10.30am) David Parsons, Town Hall (1pm) Ruth Wall: In the Shade of the Willow, Dorset
CAMPAIGNERS and police today hit out at thieves preying on the elderly at a retirement complex in Dorchester. The raiders have made the tearful pensioners' lives a misery by snatching eggs, milk, squash and bread from doorsteps at Christchurch Court in
AN award-winning youth theatre group is on the lookout for a new name. But leaders of the Weymouth Operatic Workshop want to keep the acronym WOW, by which the group is popularly known. Readers of the Dorset Echo are being asked to help by coming up with
THE Shadow Transport Minister fears Portland Coastguard could be in danger of losing its vital rescue helicopter service. Conservative MP Eric Pickles has challenged Transport Minister Stephen Byers on the future of Dorset's island-based rescue aircraft
MUMS are kicking up a stink over thoughtless dog owners who are failing to pick up their pets' mess in the vicinity of two schools. The parents are calling time on the foul play and have vowed to put a stop to this "vile" situation. They claim dog walkers
LYME'S Marine Theatre has 'no future' and could be demolished and replaced with a new building nearby if its trustees have their way. Tony Langford, chairman of the trustees who take over the running of the theatre from June 1, said the scheme could be
DORSET County Council is calling a public meeting in Lyme Regis to enable residents to make representations on the resort's proposed controversial seafront lighting scheme. Its initiative was praised at a meeting of the Lyme finance committee on Wednesday
EFFORTS should be made to return the Davey Fort Football Ground at Lyme Regis to town council ownership. That's the view of finance chairman Jeff Evemy who sees its utilisation as vital to the success of the proposed sports field development at Strawberry
WARREN Feeney has hit out at criticism of Cherries management duo Sean O'Driscoll and Peter Grant, believing they are the right men to lead the club out of Division Three. After making a heartfelt approach to the Daily Echo, the 21-year-old Northern Ireland
