DEEP roots have been set down for future generations with the opening of a new £185,000 "kindergarten village" at a New Forest school. Teachers, helpers, parents and pupils - past and present - gathered at the Ringwood Waldorf School to mark the Steiner
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (U, 98mins) Following the triumph of his retelling of An Ideal Husband, writer-director Oliver Parker turns his attention to another Oscar Wilde masterpiece. The Importance Of Being Earnest is arguably Wilde's most entertaining
ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE MIDLANDS (15, 104mins) It's grim up north, especially for loser in love Dek (Rhys Ifans), who is humiliated on national television when his girlfriend Shirley (Shirley Henderson) rebuffs a surprise marriage proposal on The Vanessa
STAFFING levels at the Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals Trust had a huge boost last year, a report has revealed. The equivalent of 214 extra full-time permanent staff joined the trust in the year ending March 31 this year. They included 34
THE FUNERAL service for popular young Charlie Smith, who collapsed and died while playing cricket on Saturday, will take place at Sutton Road United Reformed Church in Bournemouth on Tuesday September 10. The service is scheduled for 11.30am and will
WAREHAM will be home to Britain's first indoor skatepark. The £400,000 scheme, due to open on September 28, makes use of an industrial unit at Sandford Lane industrial park which has stood empty for several years. Wareham-based private sector company
ON SUNDAY August 25, a record entry of 276 boats in 16 different classes started racing in Poole Week 2002. Organised by Parkstone Yacht Club, this popular annual family sailing week runs racing largely within Poole Harbour and attracted entries from
LAURA Carr and Nikki Hamblin, Dorchester Athletic Club's National Schools' Champions, added more titles to their growing collections when they represented Dorset at the South of England Inter-Counties Championships Under-15 at Barnet Copthall. Despite
A LATE equaliser from loan striker Chris Giles earned Weymouth a deserved share of the spoils at Hardenhuish Park. The lanky Yeovil frontman stooped to head home Ryan Ashford's looping 85th minute corner just when time was running out for Geoff Butler's
A GREAT-grandfather with itchy feet has just been round the world in 84 days - with a three-month break in Australia in the middle. Retired builder Jack Parsons, 78, left his Ferndown home in March to embark on a cargo ship - which is now being scrapped
A MID-MEETING slump cost Pirates dear as they lost for only the second time at home this season to a clearly pumped up Coventry outfit last night. Poole Meridian Lifts led what looked like a depleted Bees side without injured Billy Hamill, Andreas Jonsson
TWO years of hard work have finally paid off for the members of a Weymouth choir, who have thrown wide their doors and welcomed some friends from eastern Europe to the town. In 2000, members of the Bridge Choir - an off-shoot of the legendary Quangle
A tribute to one of the UK's most legendary vocalists and entertainers, Frankie Vaughan, comes to Weymouth Pavilion later this month. Give Me The Moonlight stars Johnny Tudor and has been described as an 'engaging and respectful' homage to the UK-born
THURSDAY (5) A Night at the Musicals, Weymouth Pavilion American-style Wrestling, Weymouth Pavilion (last night) Anything Goes, Regent Centre, Christchurch FRIDAY (6) Swanage Folk Festival, various venues in Swanage Anything Goes, Regent Centre, Christchurch
CAR park charges are set to soar in Weymouth. Charges at Park Street and Melcombe Regis will increase by 20 per cent from £1 to £1.20 for two hours with some other charges being raised by between 10 and 38 per cent. A gap between what the council needs
TWO police officers were assaulted within 24 hours in separate incidents in Weymouth. Officers were called to help a man found slumped in Maiden Street, Weymouth, at 1.15am today. When they tried to rouse him he became aggressive and punched PC Charley
THIEVES escaped with hiking boots, clothes and outdoor sports gear after breaking into Dorchester store Blacks. The culprits entered the outdoor clothing store, on the corner of Tudor Arcade, after smashing a window at 1am this morning. The window is
WEYMOUTH-BASED fashion giant New Look has scooped a top accolade at a prestigious award ceremony. The company landed first place in the Value For Money category at the Prima High Street Fashion Awards in London. Readers of Prima magazine and a panel of
MORE than half a million pounds has been allocated to help save the lives of sick children in Dorset. The Government has awarded an extra £10 million to advance paediatric intensive care services across the UK, in addition to annual funding. The windfall
A NEW development has been opened in Weymouth to help people with mental health problems become part of the wider community. Jim Knight, MP for South Dorset, opened the new resource centre, Phase 3, in the Colwell Shopping Centre in Great George Street
AN UNHOLY row is brewing over a church school - leading to fears of sectarianism in Dorset. Teachers and governors at Archbishop Wake School in Blandford are proposing that the power to appoint teachers and admit children is handed over to Church of England
Bourne free to run amok THE BOURNE IDENTITY (12A, 118mins) Agent 007 had better watch his back, because there's a new secret agent in town, and he has intelligence and sex appeal in abundance. The name's Bourne, Jason Bourne (Matt Damon), and he's a covert
THE BOURNE IDENTITY (12A, 118mins) GRIPPING spy thriller that puts most recent Bond movies to shame - see review. THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (U, 98mins) Writer-director Oliver Parker once again takes a walk on the Wilde side - see review. ONCE UPON
POLICE are trying to trace the owner of ten beautiful rings believed to be stolen property. The rings are a selection of wedding, engagement and dress rings, some believed to be very old. The selection includes a yellow metal ring with three maroon stones
WALKING Bournemouth's central streets in that hiatus between office hours ending, and pubbing and clubbing hours beginning, thousands of little white blots on the landscape are all too apparent. Not one square foot of Old Christchurch Road's pedestrianised
IF YOU have more than a passing interest in British saloon cars of the 1960s (stay awake at the back there. Yes, and at the front. I can see you too, you lot in the middle), you'll probably be familiar with the concept of badge engineering. Right, is
TONIGHT (5) Stairway to Zeppelin (Finn M'Couls, Westham Road, Weymouth): Percy, Bonzo and the chaps are given tribute, authentically; £4 entry tonight, music until midnight. Lucky Bishops (Verdi's, Maiden Street, Weymouth): Psychedelic splendour, conceived
PAUL WYKES maintained his promising start to the new season by reaching the second qualifying round of the £666,800 British Open at Burton-on-Trent yesterday. Wykes, who won his opening match in the LG Cup on Monday, defeated Londoner Leo Fernandez 5-
WEYMOUTH Reserves suffered a rare Jewson Wessex Combination League defeat last night. The Terras went down to the odd goal in three against a strong Lymington outfit at Fawcetts Field, and that despite taking a 25th minute lead. Simon Citchell swung in
GEOFF Butler slammed referee Kevin Barnes after the Swindon-based official awarded Chippenham Town a controversial penalty during Weymouth's 1-1 draw at Hardenhuish Park last night. The Terras boss was left fuming after a handball decision against Simon
COMPETITORS from all over Britain took part in the latest inline skating, skateboarding and BMX jam at the Front in Weymouth. And despite the presence of some of the sports' brightest stars, there were some top performances from resort-based youngsters
PLAYING in a week-long tournament on the famous grass courts of Wimbledon was an unforgettable experience for Dorchester teenager Lucy Ramsbottom. The 13-year-old from Tincleton was one of 96 under-14 boys and girls from all over the country who qualified
CONTROVERSIAL plans to extend a specialist teaching unit for children excluded from school is set to get the go-ahead - despite concerns from residents. People living near Wimborne Learning Centre as well as parents of children attending the nearby first
LEGENDARY tribute band Talon comes to the Marine Theatre at Lyme Regis next week. For the past five years Talon have stunned packed venues with their startlingly accurate covers of hits by the much-loved band, The Eagles, who made their name with hits
clarinettist Acker Bilk is set to take to the stage at the Regent Centre, Christchurch, with his legendary Paramount Jazz Band. The man behind the US and UK No 1 hit Stranger on the Shore is at the venue this coming Sunday at 7.30pm. Tickets, £12 plus
THE world-renowned Reduced Shakespeare Company steams into North Dorset next Saturday with its crowd-delighting The Bible: The Complete Works of God (abridged). Condensing the Bible into a remarkably short space of time and asking questions such as 'did
LIFE on the ocean wave will be anything but plain sailing for Weymouth Operatic Society when they stage their next show, Anything Goes, later this month. The Cole Porter classic is set on an ocean liner and focuses on nightclub singer Reno and her lover
TOWN crier Alistair Chisholm today threatened to hang up his robes and quit Dorchester over the lack of action to promote the town. Mr Chisholm, a former national town crier champion, claimed he was fed up with 'banging his head against a brick wall'.
BLIND and partially sighted people in Dorset have raised fears about fundraising techniques being used by big national charities. Members of the Dorset County Association for the Blind (DCAB) are concerned that charities for the blind that use cold calling
A DORSET council is joining the fight for affordable housing in the area by urging owners of vacant properties to let or sell them. West Dorset District Council has launched a new campaign called Filling the Empties 2002. The council estimates that there
SHIPTON Gorge village hall was transformed with local wildlife caught on film, model dinosaurs towering over mighty onions, potatoes, cakes and funny vegetables lying side by side with pot plants and cut flowers. A total of 119 entries filled the hall
DISABLED sailors in the New Forest have been left high and dry after millions of gallons of water was drained from their lake near Ringwood. Falling water levels in the Spinnaker Lake at Blashford during the summer have rendered unusable a purpose-built
OUR celebrity judge Mike Read certainly knows the entertainment industry inside out. A household name for 20 years, Mike has won ten National Broadcaster of the Year awards during his time at Radio One, Radio Luxembourg, Classic FM and Classic Gold. Mike
EXPANDING companies could be forced out of the county by shortages of industrial land, it is feared. Commercial sites are in increasingly short supply as developers and councils cash in on soaring house prices and use old industrial sites for luxury homes
