THE businessman who sparked national outrage when he was ordered by a judge to pay a drug dealer he beat up £250 compensation is to serve his 100 hours community service working at an owl sanctuary in the New Forest. Self-employed builder, Roger Dorrington
THEY have become a must-have fashion accessory and children as young as seven have them. Often parents give in and buy them mobiles phones in the name of reassurance that it will help keep them safe and they can prove invaluable. But there can also be
Films showing in the Bournemouth region until May 23. A Beautiful Mind (12) Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris *** Biopic of brilliant mathematician and schizophrenic John Nash. Regent (Mon-Thurs) About a Boy (12) Hugh Grant, Toni Collette, Nicholas
POOLE Town boss Brian O'Donnell admits he is "disappointed" that star wingman Jamie Holland has joined Lymington and New Milton only days after pledging his future to the Tatnam Farm club. Holland, who has also attracted the attention of Christchurch
DORSET seniors travelled to Milton Keynes for the promotion play-offs to the Premier Division of the National Leagues, but their dream of returning to the top flight just one season after suffering relegation was not to be. Dorset started well against
ANTI-MAST campaigners were this week celebrating after learning that BT Airwaves is to revise its TETRA coverage of West Dorset. Dorset Against More Masts spokesman Ali Cameron said that two green field sites would be "saved" in the Marshwood Vale by
THE grandmother stuck in hospital because of a freeze on social services funding has been told the cash is now available. Just hours after the Echo revealed the plight of Sylvia Orchard blocking up a bed in Wimborne Hospital, social services told the
A WIMBORNE school has launched a ground-breaking scheme to help students cope with the stresses of modern life. Queen Elizabeth's School has opened a teenage life centre - believed to be the first such school-based service in the county. Advice on health
WEYMOUTH super-teachers John Hegarty and Adrian Bungay are in the running for top national awards. The dynamic duo - who both teach at Budmouth Technology College - look set to go straight to the top of the class after scooping places in the South West
PERFORMING arts students at Weymouth College are to stage the gothic classic Dracula. The play, adapted by Liz Lochhead, is a powerful and gripping version of the Bram Stoker's original horror tale. This is the student's final production of their two
THERE is one community centre that residents in a New Forest village would dearly love to see developed - but it is not the one they are set to take their vicar to court over. While the vicar of Hordle is being hotly challenged over plans to develop a
Plays and shows in the Dorset and Hampshire region this week Grease is the word SUPER swaggering feelgood rock 'n' roll musical Grease is back and completing a six-night run at The Mayflower Theatre in Southampton on May 18. This one-time Broadway show-turned-cult
FORMER Lyme Regis resident Pauline Burls has won a VIP trip to see the Queen's golden jubilee celebrations in London - in a contest she didn't even know she had entered. Pauline, a retired home help, now living in Marshwood, has been given four tickets
FROM tinkling tintinnabulation to sonorous bass bongs, a complete set of traditional Indonesian gamelan musical instruments has gone on show in the Red House Museum in Christchurch. Billed as the largest gamelan in England, the collection of more than
YOUNG tearaways have risked their lives by starting heavy construction vehicles at Bournemouth's biggest building site. Children have at least twice managed to start engines on vehicles parked overnight at the Castlepoint site in Castle Lane. Builders
SWANAGE council chiefs have taken a cautious step forward with plans to introduce a market in the town. Six years after the idea of a market was first suggested, councillors have backed the principle of holding a market in Victoria Avenue car park for
SEAN Penn was deservedly nominated as Best Actor at this year's Oscars for his incredibly-moving performance as a mentally-challenged single father in I Am Sam. His bravura turn, as a gentle soul striving to overcome prejudice and suspicion, anchors the
A BRILLIANT century from former Dorset wicketkeeper-batsman Sean Fitzgerald guided Bridport to an impressive six-wicket victory at West Moors on Sunday. Chasing a challenging 212 to win, he helped himself to a brilliant 137 not out to see Bridport home
MOUNTJOY School campaigner Frank Wilde this week called for "joined-up thinking" over plans for a multi-purpose auditorium in Bridport. Mr Wilde, chairman of the Friends of Mountjoy School, said a co-ordinated approach was needed to make sure that various
PIRATES reject Magnus Zetterstrom has publicly stressed his surprise at the way the club have handled his departure from Wimborne Road. The Swedish showman answered Poole Meri-dian Lifts' SOS last month to replace injured Grzegorz Walasek, who was expected
A THRIVING Dorset village will come under the spotlight when it stages the world premiere of a new film. But instead of a glittering array of celebrities walking up a red carpet for the occasion, around 100 villagers will pack the local hall to see the
The best club nights to be seen at this weekend. It's elementary for girls Big changes have been afoot at Elements over the last few months, with new management coming in and big changes promised to the entertainment policy. The first big change has come
WEYMOUTH College is going by the book - after being included in an education directory for the county. The 65-page Higher Education Directory for Dorset contains a wealth of information about the many courses available to people living in the county.
SPORTS therapist Colin Chapman has launched a weekly fun run along Weymouth beach to raise funds for schoolchildren. The first run set off last Friday with support from a host of participants and Colin is hoping to build the event into a major fundraiser
LANDLORD Trevor Vacher-Dean claims a jubilee street party is under threat because of the "mean spirit" of council chiefs. Mr Vacher-Dean has helped organise a party to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee in High West Street, Weymouth, and more than 700
THE businessman who sparked national outrage when he was ordered by a judge to pay a drug dealer he beat up £250 compensation is to serve his 100 hours community service working at an owl sanctuary in the New Forest. Self-employed builder, Roger Dorrington
A FORMER Lyme Regis landfill site is yielding items from the Victorian era and beyond. Recent coastal landslides on the eastern side of the resort have thrown up material from the one time rubbish tip at Lyme along with, of course, the expected fossils
SUGGESTIONS that Lyme Regis Marine Theatre should be rebuilt on the Woodmead site have been condemned by the chairman of the Woodmead Halls, Coun Stan Williams. "A full time theatre, as the council have found out, is very expensive to maintain," he told
FOOTBALL CRAZY? Worried you will miss some of the magic moments of the World Cup? Not a chance if you sign up to World Cup Alerts, available on Vodafone, BT and Orange only and at a cost of just 25 pence for each message. What do you have to do? Just
A PERVERTED man who befriended a "vulnerable" schoolboy before sexually abusing him has been jailed for 12 years "to protect the public from serious harm". Bournemouth Crown Court heard yesterday how father-of-one Mario Bonchelli had bought the 14-year-old
PAGE Three beauty Leilani Dowding is hoping to sing the England football team to World Cup victory with a version of old First World War song Over There. She and 10 other models have come together as the Babe Team to record the anthem and fight Ant and
BOBBY is a struggling boxer and bodyguard but he hates his work. Looking for a new career, he agrees to go to New York for his boss for a money-laundering scheme. But his partner in crime is best friend Ricky, an obnoxious loudmouth who has seen one too
LYME REGIS RES 1 ILMINSTER TN RES 2: A BAD lapse in concentration after hauling themselves back into this Daisy Hutchings Cup final cost the Seasiders the silver. Lyme, who spent a great deal of the time playing catch-up against a quicker and better organised
A THRIVING Dorset village will come under the spotlight when it stages the world premiere of a new film. But instead of a glittering array of celebrities walking up a red carpet for the occasion, around 100 villagers will pack the local hall to see the
A GROUP of young Bridport people will be running to help others when they set off on this Sunday's Jurassic Coast Challenge and fun run. They will be raising money for The Children's Society and, in particular, the WAVES initiative at Weymouth, which
POOLE co-promoter Matt Ford was delighted to gain this Sky Sports Elite League draw at Ipswich last night. "If I had been given the chance beforehand, I would have bitten someone's hand off," he said. World champion Tony Rickardsson was the Poole hero
PROTESTORS chained themselves to tractors in a bid to stop a farmer planting genetically modified crops in a field near Weymouth yesterday. But the group, which included tunnel-digging environmental activist Swampy, failed in their attempts to prevent
Hank Marvin's farewell tour IT'S something his fans thought they'd never see. After more than 40 years, former Shadows guitarist Hank Marvin is calling it a day. But don't worry. When he arrives at the Bournemouth International Centre on May 19 it might
GAS main works on Portland Beach Road are causing major problems with bus services. Some buses run by First have taken more than an hour and a half to get on or off the island. And passengers have had to endure long waits for a bus to arrive and even
AN exciting link has been made beween Kimmeridge in Dorset and the ancient monument of Stonehenge. The news came when delighted archaeologists at Amesbury in Wiltshire discovered the richest early Bronze Age burial in Britain. The skeleton was found just
ESPORTA Ladies made sure it was a case of once bitten twice shy as they snatched National Club League victory from Ivybridge on a tie-break shoot-out. After disappointingly losing out on the tie-break at Bath University last month, the Broadstone-based
BRIDPORT chairman Barry Williams and Derek Walkey will meet shortly to decide whether the player-manager continues for a third season in charge of the Bees. All the signs are that both men would like the management situation to remain unchanged with Walkey
BOURNEMOUTH'S Steve Hendy strengthened his claim to the Kumho National Rally Championship title with an excellent fifth overall on the Isle of Man. Hendy and co-driver Mark Milton in their now aging Escort Cosworth took third in class A8 on Saturday's
A NOISY bird scarer is causing more than a few ruffled feathers in West Bay Road, Bridport. Some residents say they are being driven mad by the noise from the scarer, which they say begins at 6am and goes on throughout the day at 20-minute intervals.
A MAJOR festival aimed at cutting car chaos in Dorchester has been axed after just two people turned up to support it. Organisers put out 75 chairs last night for a meeting at the Corn Exchange to discuss closing off the town centre to traffic and laying
Gigs coming up in the Bournemouth area this week Catch Pennies from heaven New Xpress Music continues to bring top-notch folk acts to the area on May 17, and the visitors to The Portman on Ashley Road in Boscombe are no exception. Jez Lowe And The Bad
RESIDENTS of Puddle-town have criticised Government proposals for the village's bypass - for ignoring the village itself. Local dignitaries and shopkeepers said the proposals, which aim to improve safety along the busy A35, neglected the effect of the
Concerts and shows this week Pop goes nostalgia VETERAN pop japesters The Barron Knights lead a special Call Up The Groups line-up as the latest golden oldies nostalgia tour arrives at the Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre on May 17. Their conscripts include
CHILDREN at a pre-school have benefited from a new playhouse - thanks to prisoners at the Verne on Portland. The 49 youngsters, aged between two and five, at Noah's Ark pre-school in Chickerell were given a £200 grant from Chickerell Town Council to put
A BOAT owner had an unexpected shock when carrying out work on his vessel in Weymouth's inner harbour - Randy the dolphin came along to lend a helping fin. The adult bottlenose, who has become Weymouth and Portland's newest tourist attraction, paid Mike
THEY say a day in news is a long time but try telling that to long serving Dorset Echo reporter David Swain - who has 40 years' service. The 56-year-old stalwart was one of 13 dedicated members of staff who received service awards from our parent company
DORSET Chamber of Commerce and Industry will next week host an inward trade mission from Blount County, Tennessee. DCCI has long had close links with Tennessee - at least 75 per cent of the major markets in the US are within one day's drive of the state
LYME Regis Football Club has made a brilliant start in its bid to raise £50,000 in partnership funding for the town's Strawberry Field sports field project. The club reports, in its fund raising update publication, that it has coined in £5,000 since April
LYME'S biggest hotel, the historic Royal Lion, in Broad Street, has been sold for an undisclosed sum. Owner Brian Sienesi, who has run the Royal Lion with his wife Judy for the past 19 years, said this week that the signing of the completion papers was
