BEING diagnosed with cancer is most people's worst nightmare. But at a time when patients are worried about their health, it can be a sudden and huge shock to realise they may no longer be able to pay their bills. Around 4,600 people diagnosed with cancer
BOURNEMOUTH'S notorious problems with binge drinking and alcohol-fuelled violence could be dramatically reduced if pubs and clubs were further apart, it has been claimed. Towns with large numbers of licensed premises in concentrated areas have come under
THE body of the Earl of Shaftesbury has been found in mountains in the south of France, five months after he disappeared. The earl's sister, Lady Frances Ashley-Cooper, confirmed the discovery of the body on April 5, the Daily Telegraph reported. She
WAR veterans from Bournemouth and Poole will be among ex-servicemen returning to World War Two battlefields next month to pay their last respects to lost comrades. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of VE Day on May 8, Leslie Dell, 81, and Kenneth Coffin
SALES of The Big Issue have dropped since Bournemouth was heralded as a champion for tackling homelessness. Falling magazine revenue is fuelling the desperate plight of people sleeping rough on the streets or in makeshift shelters and squats, according
PRIME MINISTER Tony Blair touched down in Labour's most marginal seat on Tuesday (Apr 5) as he kicked off his party's election campaign. His helicopter landed at Portland Heliport before he was whisked off to the local Weymouth and Portland National Sailing
DEVELOPERS hoping to build hundreds of flats on a prime town-centre site have had their initial designs criticised as "slab-like" and "unexciting". Redrow have been sent back to the drawing board in their bid to develop the Terrace Mount car park in Bournemouth
A FORMER school friend of a soldier who lost his legs in a suicide bombing in Iraq is joining a Daily Echo campaign to buy him new limbs. Let's Help Neil was launched to support the Neil Heritage Fund, which was set up by colleagues of the 24-year-old
DORSET and Wiltshire centre Ben Williams scored a try for England Under-16s as they beat their Wales counterparts 15-7 at Hull. The Bryanston School pupil dived over Wales' line for England's opening try, and with Adam Greendale (Yorkshire) adding the
BLANDFORD will play Southern Counties South rugby again next season after sealing the Dorset and Wiltshire Division One South title with a hard-earned 17-7 win at Wimborne 3rds. Wimborne led 7-0 at the break against the league leaders, but tries from
HUNDREDS of years to the day since Noah's Ark supposedly reached dry land, the goals went in two-by-two for Garreth O'Connor on Tuesday (Apr 5) - hurrah, hurrah! The Irishman capped a stunning Cherries display by netting twice in the space of 17 second-half
FOUR games into his reign at the Wessex, Garry Hill landed the Terras their first silverware in three seasons at the Avenue Stadium last night. But the new boss wasn't going overboard after his side clinched the Sammy McGowan Cup - their first trophy
TAKE four sporting-mad teenagers, add some sponsorship from the next potential dotcom phenomenon, sprinkle the girls at Poole Speedway and what have you got? The perfect starters! In a sport of noise and excitement these four really are Girls Aloud. And
AN AREA of common land in Holt is likely to remain fenced off from the public despite cries from the Open Spaces Society for action. God's Blessing Green is at the centre of a dispute after a nearby landowner erected a fence preventing public access.
PRIME Minister Tony Blair kicked off the 2005 election campaign in South Dorset at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. He flew down to the complex to make his first campaign speech and to back South Dorset MP Jim Knight's fight for the
MOTORISTS caught speeding could avoid fixed penalty fines by taking part in a new scheme. Dorset Police have announced a new driver awareness scheme, which will teach motoring offenders about their responsibilities on the road. The scheme is part of a
LEADING councillor Brian Ellis has declared war on replica Samurai swords and dangerous knives being sold to youngsters. Coun Brian Ellis, a member of Weymouth and Portland Borough Council, is spearheading a crusade to raise the age limit for buying blades
DRAMA and music groups fear that staging shows at a brand-new venue in Weymouth could become too expensive. Amateur singers and actors welcomed plans to replace the council-owned Pavilion Theatre as part of a radical scheme to develop the peninsula it
A NEW super court complex combining magistrates and crown courts in Weymouth or Dorchester came a step closer today after a new shake-up. The separate organisations running Dorchester Crown Court, county and magistrates courts have been merged into the
CAMPAIGNERS are poised to win a crucial victory in their fight to stop speeding cars crashing outside their homes. More than 350 people signed a petition calling for traffic-calming in Radipole after a series of accidents on the bend near the bridge.
A FAILED expansion project contributed to the closure of a 200-year-old printing business in Ringwood. Malcolm and Miriam Kennedy, bosses of Brown & Son, closed the doors at the Crow Arch Lane business for the last time on Friday after telling 30
A "BAFFLING" questionnaire and map containing no place names has been sent to Blandford residents in what some say can only be an effort to confuse. Locals are being asked to comment on proposals to expand Blandford's boundaries to take in Blandford Camp
CHRISTCHURCH police are trying to track down a schoolgirl who went missing from her home in Purewell on Sunday. Sarah Lewis, 14, was last seen at home at 7pm on Sunday. Her worried mother contacted police four hours later. Sgt Graham Melly said: "Sarah
NEIL Moss watched Garreth O'Connor's double give Cherries' League One play-off hopes a major boost and then hailed the Irishman as "head and shoulders our best player this season". O'Connor took his tally to 14 by grabbing a second-half brace as Cherries
THE police locally are to mount a crackdown on people who don't wear seatbelts in the car - as you'll know if you've been doing the sensible thing and buying the Echo every day. We had someone do a quick count outside the office the other day, and out
THE body of the Earl of Shaftesbury has been found in mountains in the south of France, five months after he disappeared, it was reported today. The earl's sister, Lady Frances Ashley-Cooper, confirmed the discovery of the body last night, the Daily Telegraph
LIB DEM councillors and an MP in Poole have been called to support the election campaign - by the Tory party. MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole Annette Brooke was shocked when she got home to find an answer machine message from the Conservatives on her
THE body of the Earl of Shaftesbury has been found in mountains in the south of France, five months after he disappeared. The earl's sister, Lady Frances Ashley-Cooper, confirmed the discovery of the body on April 5, the Daily Telegraph reported. She
AN MP is demanding a meeting with Purbeck District Council and fire safety chiefs after discovering the last official inspection at the Silent Woman Caravan Park at Bere Regis was back in 1984. Residents have been told they must pay for their porches
PATIENTS are treated more quickly at Poole Hospital than any other district general in the country, according to new figures. Bosses at Poole Hospital NHS Trust are celebrating after becoming the first to have no patients waiting more than three months
CAMPAIGNERS wanting a change in mobile mast laws have welcomed a government order for more research into the technology - if findings are taken seriously. The study will look into the possibility of phone companies sharing masts and the value of the telecoms
DORCHESTER'S Mark Jermyn and Justin Keeler have signed extensions to their contracts that will keep them at the Avenue Stadium for another two years. Their agreement of new terms has delighted boss Mark Morris as he looks to assemble a squad to build
WOULD you dump your employer and switch jobs if someone else offered you an extra 91p per day after tax? Growing numbers of people are doing precisely that, say recruiters. It only takes £500 to persuade a Dorset or New Forest worker to jump ship these
TRADITIONAL Dorset road signs are under threat from new government legislation, claims a councillor. Dorchester town councillor Roland Tarr says the removal of old signs and their replacement with modern reflective ones will ruin the look of the county's
PRIME Minster Tony Blair put Weymouth and Portland on the map with his first stop on the campaign trial. He fired the starting gun for the general election as he rallied the Labour Party faithful at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.
STUDENT Katie Chandler is preparing to jet off to Canada on a youth work project. Katie, 18, from Greenhill in Weymouth, is helping to organise a trip to Kimberley in the Canadian Rocky Mountains for 10 young people from Dorset. The youths, aged 15 to
ESTATE agent Jeff Nethaway is fuming after getting a parking penalty line call worthy of a John McEnroe tennis tantrum. "They cannot be serious, it was on the line," said Mr Nethaway after Christchurch council traffic wardens spotted the wheel of his
