SIXTY-TWO per cent of voters on our website poll believe Tony Blair and his government get a fair press - whereas 37 per cent of voters believe he does not. Log on to: (www.thisisdorset.net/bournemouth) to vote is this week's poll: The TV programme Big
FROM washing their uniforms in petrol to bartering tea with the Arabs - veterans of the Second World War explained what life was like to a new generation of Swanage youngsters. Swanage Middle School welcomed 31 visitors with war memories to talk with
BOSCOMBE CLIFF surged on towards regaining their status as league champions with A 12-2 (98-70) pounding of Alexandra Park. Last season Alexandra Park won this corresponding fixture 85-75 and Boscombe Cliff showed no mercy as they took handsome revenge
DORCHESTER stormed into the county final of the Travelsphere Top Club competition with a 91-72 defeat of neighbours Weymouth and Melcombe. In the competition the top 10 players in each club challenge each other to a game of singles, pairs, triples, and
WEYMOUTH Tandoori are winding themselves up for an over-the-Ridgeway raid on Dorchester's cricketing trophies. The former champions of the resort's evening league, whose challenge since they switched to compete in the county town set-up a couple of seasons
TOP players from all over Europe could soon be converging on Weymouth Sands for an international beach handball competition. It follows the success of the first beach handball championships ever to be held in the resort at the weekend. Around 35 teams
PIRATES skipper Gary Havelock believes they are capable of going through their Sky Sports Elite League programme unbeaten at home. But he stressed he would prefer Poole Meridian Lifts Pirates to lift one of the two trophies still open to them this season
BUS passengers face chaos after drivers turned down a fresh deal in a pay dispute with First. A series of strikes - the first on Friday - is set to paralyse bus services in Weymouth, Dorchester and Bridport, after union officials advised more than 100
WEYMOUTH'S Trimar and Dorchester's Joseph Weld Hospices are to merge later this year. Trustees from the hospices confirmed the merger today after talks between them sparked speculation that they were set to join forces. In a joint statement from Patricia
CONTROVERSY raged as the first CCTV poles were installed in Bridport town centre yesterday. The stark, black poles seemed thicker, taller and far more prominent than anyone had imagined. "It's a scandal," said wine merchant Mike Farmer. "I think they're
FOUR people were taken to hospital this morning after an Army Land Rover slewed across the road and collided with an ambulance service van in Dorchester. The Land Rover was transporting soldiers from Blandford when it skidded across the road near Grey's
THIS YEAR'S five-day Larmer Tree Music Festival is almost sold out. All tickets for the opening night - headlined by Jools Holland - were snapped up weeks ago. Now tickets for Saturday, July 20, and all of the special weekend tickets have sold out too
THE fight to crack down on drugs and crime in South and West Dorset has been given a £131,000 government cash boost. Crime-busting partnerships in Weymouth and Portland are set to receive £61,100 and initiatives in West Dorset will get a £69,900 slice
IT'S every girl's dream. Finding a suitcase with your name on it and opening it up to find exquisitely tailored clothing and matching accessories and then putting them on to see how you look. That was the feeling backstage at a 50 years of fashion event
PARKING charges could soon make a shock return to the New Forest, after the district council announced it was turning to local residents for help in tackling its spiralling road traffic crisis. The authority is to launch one of its biggest-ever consultation
DORSET captain Stuart Rintoul has blamed poor batting for their disappointing eight-wicket defeat against Cornwall at Dean Park. The 2000 Minor Coun-ties champions had looked as though they would mount a final day surge for victory after leading by 39
FORMER British number two Shirli-Ann Siddall today stressed her delight at Elena Baltacha's breakthrough at Wimbledon, reports Phil Chard. The Bournemouth tennis star has also highlighted Jane O'Donoghue and Anne Keothavong as two other young female Brits
DORSET Combination League officials have voted to change the name of the competition to the Dorset Premier Football League. The decision was taken at the league's 45th Annual General Meeting held in Sturminster Newton. The management committee have also
THE bookies believe Weymouth are among the favourites to be relegated from the Dr Martens Premier Division next season. Odds just announced by the Non-League Football Magazine quote the Terras at 40-1 for promotion to the Conference next season - and
MUM Vicki Bell got more than she bargained for after she bought a bunch of bananas - she came face to face with a deadly spider. Mrs Bell spotted the black widow in a bunch of bananas she had bought from a Weymouth greengrocer. The spider, which is slightly
PROBLEMS with marriage breakdowns, debt, homelessness and redundancy in the area are spiralling, counsellors in Dorchester are warning. Volunteers from the town's Citizens' Advice Bureau are painting a bleak picture of life in the county town and the
THE number of people claiming benefits in Weymouth and Portland has rocketed. New research published by the Dorset Poverty Mapping Group (DPMG) has revealed that 10.2 per cent of the county's population lives in households that receive housing and council
VISITORS could soon be given a personal welcome to Dorchester - if a proposal to employ a full-time town crier meets with success. The scheme, put forward by the town's chamber of commerce, could see town crier Alistair Chisholm give a series of cries
Boat owners will still have to pay fees to use Portland Harbour, despite efforts to have the charges scrapped. Campaigners had lobbied the Department of Transport to overturn the right of Portland Port Limited (PPL) to charge small vessels for entering
NEW trains could soon be running between Dorset and London following a multi-million pound investment. South West Trains which operates services between Weymouth and Waterloo has received £29 million from the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) to fund a new
TEACHERS and staff are set to benefit from a new school garden thanks to the work of Dorset Freemasons. Over two days they refurbished a garden at Penwithen Special School in Dorchester to give it a new lease of life. Twenty-two volunteers from lodges
TWO OF the most important public inquiries in the history of the New Forest are set to clash. A planning inspector has rejected calls to postpone the forthcoming inquiry into the Countryside Agency's proposal to turn the Forest into a National Park. The
FOR most people The King and I conjures up an instant vision of Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr in the timeless 1956 movie. But this of tale of a young Englishwoman brought to the court of the King of Siam to teach his children, was a stage show before it
DORSET Police has responded to a Sunday newspaper's claims that crack cocaine is easy to get hold of in Dorset. The allegations were made in the News of the World, where a reporter claimed to have met a drug dealer in the Tesco car park in Blandford and
NEW Forest residents are most likely to be the richest Echo readers, latest league table figures reveal. The New Forest ranks 114th out of Britain's 459 local authorities for numbers of households with a collective income of more than £100,000 per year
FULHAM have emerged as the front runners to sign former Bournemouth skipper Matt Holland in a deal which could spell the end of Cherries' plans to sell Dean Court. Ipswich star Holland has been linked with several big money moves after an impressive showing
