YOUNG chef Stephanie Jones kept her cool in the kitchen to qualify for the national final of a cooking competition. Thomas Hardye School student Stephanie, 16, was put forward by Dorchester Casterbridge Rotary Club to serve a top-drawer, three-course
SCORES of children and parents gathered at Easton Gardens for the handover of the Play on Portland project. The scheme, which has ben run for the past two years by Dorset Community Action (DCA) is now in the hands of a group of parents headed by Debbie
A REFURB has put a fresh breath of life into St George’s Church at Fordington. The project, which cost nearly £50,000, included returning the pews to the back of the church as the focal point for a new area. Historic St George’s has also become the
Bere Regis A STEP Back in Time, the photographic exhibition at the Drax hall was a huge success with a large number of visitors enjoying the amazing display spanning all aspects of village history since photographic records began.
CHILDREN who were expecting a day of fun activities rallied together to help clean up a play area in Weymouth instead. The youngsters aged between three and 14 arrived at the new park in Westham to take part in an activity day – only to find The Green
Abbotsbury and Langton Herring Langton Herring MARTIN Fielding, a Langton Herring resident has sent me an email about their successful Great Dorset Beach Clean on Sunday, 18 April Nine Langton Herring residents and two little
RELIEF has been given to divers on Portland who have been given the go-ahead to run a key public toilet themselves. Divers were furious when the only public conveniences in Castletown were closed a day before the unofficial start of their diving season
A VICAR from Dorchester has described being tear-gassed and held at gunpoint in the West Bank during a humanitarian mission. The Rev Jonathan Herbert, the former leader of West Dorset’s Pilsdon Community, lived in the Palestinian village of Jayyous for
ANT hill snipping, scallop trawling and canvassing were all on the agenda yesterday as the Conservative campaign hit Weymouth and Portland. Conservative candidate for South Dorset Richard Drax was joined for the day by former Defence Secretary Tom King
Dorchester is going to the polls tomorrow – a fortnight before the rest of the country. But instead of selecting a political representative, voters will be having their say on a £10.7million relocation plan by West Dorset District Council
WITH all this wonderful weather our thoughts turn to a good summer and of seeing all the hanging baskets and flowers adorning the houses in the Park district. Every year the Forum holds a gardening competition, which is free to enter. This
TOWARDS the end of March the Upwey and Broadwey Horticultural Society held its Spring Show at the memorial hall. There were 186 entries altogether and that included home cookery, photography and model making as well as all the flowers of springtime
HUNDREDS of Dorset travellers face further misery as they remain stranded abroad following the volcanic ash crisis. British airspace began opening last night after the six-day shutdown, but hundreds are expected to remain stranded abroad as
I am writing to raise awareness of Macmillan’s Vote Cancer Support campaign. People don’t choose to have cancer, and they don’t choose which cancer they get, but the forthcoming General Election gives us all the opportunity to choose how we treat the
Both Weymouth and Bridport have Operatic groups, yet Dorchester is missing such an organisation. We have Dorchester Drama and the Thomas Hardye Players, but these are (as far as I know) not really concerned with musical theatre. I’d be intrigued to
THE Echo recently featured a welcome campaign by pharmacists to help combat bowel cancer ‘Pharmacists lead new health awareness bid’, (April 16). But how many of your readers are aware of the NHS Bowel Cancer Screening Programme? I recently took a
I was absolutely disgusted to find that Weymouth car park charges have gone up by a whopping 50p per hour! I went into the car park opposite Debenhams armed with the usual 80p for the hour, only to find that it now costs £1.30 for an hour. How can they
My family has lived in and around Dorchester for many centuries. Like Thomas Hardy, I am an architect, initially trained in a local practice, but qualified at architectural college. I was both honoured and privileged to serve as a local government officer
PROPERTY owners could treble their returns during the Olympics, according to a holiday firm. Self-catering specialist Blue Chip Vacations anticipates that self-catering property owners will be able to make up to three times as much in the Olympic
AFTER the storming success of their adaptation of Educating Rita, Portland’s own theatre company is now tackling another stage classic. Blithe Spirit is a sophisticated comedy by Noel Coward. The plot revolves around Charles, an author who plans a séance
A TEENAGER who was stabbed in the neck in an unprovoked attack on Portland feared he was dying as blood gushed down his shirt. Ryan Burrows was knifed after being approached from behind by two younger teenagers as he stood with friends outside
RYAN Moss scored the only goal of the game as Dorchester Town defeated a Yeovil Town XI last night. Magpies' manager Ashley Vickers labelled the behind-closed-doors friendly "a good workout and a good test for the lads". See tomorrow's Echo for the
JAMIE McGuinness has not ruled out a return to Weymouth after scoring the Terras’ winning goal in the last home match of his loan spell, against Hampton & Richmond on Saturday. The 19-year-old Rushden & Diamonds player is out of contract with his parent
WESTLAND SPORTS 1 CHICKERELL UNITED 1 CHICKERELL United manager Brendon King remained positive despite seeing his side held to a 1-1 draw at Westland Sports last night. The title-chasing Chickens missed a first-half penalty before Nick Etherington
WILDCATS’ skipper Tom Brown is targeting the Buxton Hitmen for his return from a broken ankle. The 25-year-old sustained the injury 10 days ago during the last heat of Weymouth’s 56-38 defeat to Bournemouth – prompting the Cats to recall former captain
BRIDPORT 0 ROMAN GLASS 0 BRIDPORT failed to score for the first time in nine matches as they played out a goalless draw with Roman Glass St George last night. While the much-publicised volcanic ash has been grounding aircraft across the country
WEYMOUTH’S first taste of ultimate frisbee was so well received that sessions could be set up for those who would like to have a go themselves. The Mixed UK Tour was in town at the weekend with some of the world’s best ultimate frisbee competitors on
THE final of Weysports’ first community event has been deemed “a fantastic success” by organiser Tim Davis. More than 50 children represented districts from across the Weymouth & Portland borough in the final stages of the free event, picking Premier
DORCHESTER Town ace James Coutts is confident the club’s soccer schools will go from strength to strength. The Easter course was due to be run by ex-county town football consultant Gorka Exteberria. However, the Basque-based coach took up a new role
A SATURDAY Sports Club in Weymouth will be launching its 23rd year with a full programme of games coaching for youngsters between five and 13-years-old from Saturday, May 8 to Saturday, June 26. Athletics, basketball, mini-cricket, football, hockey,
YOUNG cricketers were given the Chance to Shine during a special Easter cricket camp run by Portland Red Triangle. As part of the club’s commitment to the Cricket Foundation’s Chance to Shine scheme, it ran the day-long camp of coaching and competition
BEAMINSTER teenager Arran Hall is set to share the same tennis court as Andy Murray after impressing Pat Cash at the Barclays Ball Kids National Trials. Hall, a student at Beaminster School, was chosen as one of just 30 ball kids for the ATP
A WEYMOUTH based company has raised thousands of pounds for a fund set up in memory of former Wey Valley School pupil Will Mackaness. Screen printing specialist DEK presented a cheque for £3,000 to the Will Mackaness Fund which was set up in memory
DORCHESTER YMCA gymnasts delivered five medals at the Women’s Artistic Dorset Floor & Vault competition. First to compete for the YMCA were Willow Jehu (Phase 1 Club, 02), Elizabeth Legg (Phase 1 Club, 01), Emma Adams (Phase 2 NDP, 00), Caitlin Chapman
FRIENDS Alys Morgan and Charlotte Head will face each other in the run-up to the finale of the 2010 Star Sensations competition. After getting through the Weymouth auditions, both women will have to wow the judges again during the heats stage in the
