THE parents of a 10-month-old baby are facing a five-month battle to get her home from hospital - despite her being fully recovered from a serious heart operation. Little Rosemary Parkin was born with only one lung and underwent a procedure to move her
WHAT did you have for lunch at school? If you had asked that question of these children, you would have been in for a surprise. The pupils were treated to a cookery lesson by Ken Hom, the TV king of Oriental cuisine. The celebrity chef rustled up some
IT'S proving to be just the ticket. An extra 250,000 passengers have been hopping onto a new bus services in Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch in what has been little short of a revelation for public transport in the conurbation. The distinctive blue
WILL the IMAX reopen? That is the question on the lips of every Bournemouth resident, so the Daily Echo is going to ask it every day until we get an answer. The beleaguered seafront attraction was shut for repairs and refurbishment earlier this year,
WHAT did you have for lunch at school? If you had asked that question of these children, you would have been in for a surprise. The pupils were treated to a cookery lesson by Ken Hom, the TV king of Oriental cuisine. The celebrity chef rustled up some
THE hunt is on to find the only pregnant fathers in Britain. Seahorses are unique in the animal kingdom in that it is the male that becomes pregnant. On June 18 and 19 SEASEARCH (locally co-ordinated by Dorset Wildlife Trust) and the Seahorse Trust are
CHRISTIAN Bale is hardly the most flamboyant of movie stars, so it has been all the more unusual to be assaulted with him at every turn over the past week or so. His face crops up in the news pages as well as the entertainment sections. He's on radio
With Tutankhamen's mummy hitting the headlines again, this is a timely novel. The hero of the book is Mahu, chief of police and protector of the young pharaoh. An imposter claiming to be Tutankhamen's father and predecessor, Akhenaten, appears on the
Posh cop superintendent Lynley and his sidekick Havers are thrown into a hunt for a serial killer, targetting young black boys. And the taunts of institutionalised racism in the police mean this time it's more than a murder hunt, it's a damage limitation
HAYS Taxation is the UK's leading specialist recruitment consultancy for taxation and treasury professionals. With nine centres of excellence across the UK, including the south coast office based in Bournemouth, Hays has hundreds of taxation and treasury
RUBBISH and hypodermic needles are being left lying around and are posing a health risk according to a Weymouth fisherman. Ian Spann, from Westham, says he is sick of seeing old footballs, beer cans, supermarket trolleys and needles in Radipole Park Drive
PENSIONER Brian Coomber has come out of retirement to brighten up Weymouth Railway Station. Flower fanatic Brian, of Chelmsford Street, Weymouth, has forked out around £750 of his own cash putting up 15 flower pots on a wall off Ranelagh Road. The green-fingered
ONE of Europe's most important natural sites is under threat from water running off fields rich with fertiliser or pouring in from nearby sewage treatment works. Officers guarding the Fleet's welfare say their concern is that any enriched water might
DORCHESTER'S flagship hospital is leading the way in reducing the amount of time patients have to stay in hospital. West Dorset General Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Dorset County Hospital in Dorchester, was placed among the top 10 per cent of trusts
THE courage and dedication of all submariners in war and peace was remembered at an emotive ceremony held on the mist-shrouded Portland Heights. The main purpose of the occasion was to mark the 50th anniversary of the HM Submarine Sidon disaster in Portland
THE housing crisis in Weymouth and Portland is getting worse because property developers are reluctant to build cheap homes, fear council officers. A new report has revealed that some firms deliberately submit plans for small clusters of deluxe homes,
A DELEGATION of council officials from North Dorset have visited the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister to plead with them not to cap council tax. The district has set the second highest council tax rise in the country and is one of only nine authorities
PLAYERSHARE'S calculated risk to finance the signing of Steve Cooke is on course to pay off - thanks in no small part to the Daily Echo. Directors of the scheme agreed on behalf of Playershare to pledge funds they did not have to cover the costs of Cooke's
MUCH to my bemusement, I see charity wristbands have been in the news lately, for one reason or another. I guess it's just another symptom of my increasing "oh hang on, I've just got old" mentality, but I simply don't get what wristbands are all about
THOUSANDS of motorists could have their speeding fines quashed after a Bournemouth solicitor persuaded magistrates to throw his summons out of court. The lawyer pointed out a flaw in police paperwork after being issued a fine for driving at 38mph in a
ANGRY members of a health care forum put Dorset Healthcare NHS Trust on the spot last night about proposals to close popular treatment, outreach and rehabilitation services in Bournemouth. The Patient and Public Involvement Forum called the meeting after
MOST working dads want to stay home to look after their baby, according to a new study. The Equal Opportunities Commission has revealed that almost 80 per cent of men want to be able to spend more time bonding with their child, and almost 90 percent feel
IN Britain, a David Brent character would be the office joke, in America he'd probably be the most admired guy in the corporation. Which is precisely the reason why the US version of The Office doesn't work. The Office - An American Workplace (BBC3, Tuesday
I'M shuffling uncomfortably in my seat. Not surprising after I'd watched Jim Fenner get a warm welcome in the showers after he was banged up for his fit-up on Karen Betts. For those of you who weren't watching at the end of the last Bad Girls (ITV1, Tuesday
I SPEND an awful lot of my time trying to convince people that snooker is a rock 'n' roll sport - Higgins' drinking, Ronnie's ranting and King's fighting are, after all, good value even if you're not remotely interested in "potting as many balls as you
A LAVISH ladies' day at Lord Normanton's magnificent Ringwood residence earlier this month raised £4,000 for the Daily Echo-backed Jigsaw appeal. Money raised from The Spirit of Ascot at Somerley will go towards the purchase of life-saving scanners at
Based on Horwood's own heartbreaking boyhood in South East England after the Second World War. Fatherless five-year old Jimmy Rova is the unwanted child of a mother who rejects him, growing up among half-siblings who bully him. The one thing he can call
Coming up with one set of characters that can stay fresh through a series of novels is an achievement, but manufacturing another plausible persona puts the writer in a superior class. Granger's Cotswold CID duo Mitchell and Markby have mingled intrigue
NATIONAL honour will be at stake next weekend as the world famous Goodwood Festival of Speed (June 24-26) celebrates 'Racing Colours - National Pride and Culture'. The essence of the theme for 2005 is what makes the cars and motorcycles of different countries
RENAULT'S funky supermini Modus can now be ordered in luxury Initiale trim level along with a new, more powerful Euro IV compliant engine for the range, a 1.5 dCi 106 which comes complete with an all-new six-speed manual gearbox. Modus Initiale costs
THIS YEAR'S Echo-backed Dorset Business Awards are off to a flying start with a new category and new sponsor. Around 70 business leaders gathered at the Harbour Heights, Sandbanks for the launch of the 11th annual Dorset business 'Oscars'. Teamwork is
IF THE weather forecasters have got it right, we're heading for a real scorcher this summer. Hundreds of people are expected to flock to the beaches around Bournemouth and Poole to soak up the sun as the first really hot weather of the summer finally
Caught In The Net: Lighthouse, Poole. Classic farce continues at Lighthouse this week with a clutch of well-known soap and sitcom stars appearing in a Ray Cooney's follow-up to Run For Your Wife. Trevor Bannister (Mr Lucas from Are You Being Served. Jeffrey
A NEW initiative to help create more havens for wildlife in Dorset has been launched. Over recent decades Dorset's wildlife has been squeezed into increasingly small and isolated pockets. Despite efforts by conservationists it continues to decline, and
A GOLF club has escaped prosecution after removing a large amount of turf from public land in the New Forest. The Forestry Commission has rejected calls to take court action against New Forest Golf Club, which took the turf to repair a damaged section
OUT-of-contract Cherries star Alan Connell says he is keeping an "open mind" as he weighs up his options for the future. The precocious young striker, who has been offered a new 12-month deal by the club, is one of only two players yet to finalise their
GOLFERS believe councillors may have signed the death warrant for their club. Members of Moors Valley Golf Centre say increased membership fees and restrictions on season cards will result in a huge loss of income. Around 50 players protested at East
PRICELESS precious memories of wartime Christchurch have been stolen from the town's Red House Museum along with the expensive video equipment used to record them. An opportunist thief who sneaked into a back room of the museum in Quay Road walked out
