RESIDENTS are being warned to batten down the hatches as heavy rain and winds lash the Dorset coast. Gale force winds and large waves are set to batter the Dorset coastline overnight Friday and into Saturday, and the Chiswell area of Portland is
DISABILITY sport in Weymouth and Portland is set to receive a welcome boost. Chesil Sailability have received an £8,820 award from Sport England to purchase training and safety equipment. Chesil Sailability is a local voluntary organisation
BRIDPORT’S Lyric Theatre’s February fundraiser is an evening out on Valentine’s weekend. The event on Saturday will be headlined by six-piece band, The Electric Swing Circus, with swing support from DJ Roc Vicar. The whole evening is made for
ENJOY a bloody great Valentine’s weekend as haunting musicians Solarference accompany the 1920s classic Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at Dorchester Arts Centre tomorrow and Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday. Solarference are made up of duo Nick Janaway
LUKE Patience’s hunger for Olympic glory in Rio hasn’t wavered despite Joe Glanfield’s surprise decision to retire with immediate effect. Glanfield, 34, who claimed Olympic silver in Athens and Bei-jing, returned to the double-handed 470 class
The next Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting for the Wey Valley ward will be on Tuesday, February 25 at 7.30pm. It will be held at Sainsbury’s supermarket restaurant where disability access is available. Residents will have the
The family-run Mortons House Hotel at Corfe Castle has won a silver ‘Access for All’ award at the South West Tourism Awards. The two AA Rosette hotel was up against stiff competition from across Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.
DORSET and Somerset Air Ambulance has been named as the beneficiaries of this year’s Buckham Fair. The event is hosted every year by Martin and Phillipa Clunes on their land near Beaminster. Started in 2008 the fair has so far raised more than
COUNCILLORS have agreed a rise in council tax for Dorset as well as cuts of £15million. In proposing the budget for the 2014/15 financial year county council leader Spencer Flower said members needed to ‘embrace change’ of a radical nature as it
FAVOURITE family moments will be the subject of an art competition for Dorset youngsters. Relate, the relationship support charity, wants children up to the age of 16 to enter drawings or paintings inspired by special family times. It is part
The price of the fortnightly garden waste collection service is set to rise by seven times the rate of inflation. Dorset Waste Partnership’s (DWP) service will increase by more than 14 per cent– from £35 to £40–next month. More than 26,000
A THREE year review will decide which council services could be scrapped to save money. People will be asked to share their views as part of the review. Council chiefs at West Dorset District Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council
BARN DANCE St Paul’s Church Community Hall Abbotsbury Road, Weymouth Friday Feb 21. Starting at 7.00-9.30pm. £5 per person (children must be over 14) Entry by ticket only (Phone office 771217) There will be jacket potatoes and soft drinks available
CYCLISTS are invited to make their mark in the fight for every heartbeat by supporting the British Heart Foundation’s Dorset Bike Ride. Participants cycle up to 100 miles through glorious Dorset countryside in the event, supported by Santander,
A COLLECTION of antique maps of Dorset is going under the hammer in Dorchester this week. Poole resident Edward Gillis collected over 150 maps of the county over a 40-year period from the earliest known printed map of Dorset, created by Christopher
DORSET prisoners will not be sent to Dorset prisons, it has been announced. As reported in the Echo last week, Police and Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill and the county’s MPs had been lobbying officials to review the allocation of prison places
A COUNCIL has demonstrated its commitment to energy saving and climate change by signing the Climate Local Commitment. It is a Local Government Association initiative to drive, inspire and support council action on climate change. Launched
INVITED guests will get the chance to board a pirate-hunting destroyer when she calls in at Portland on Friday. HMS Dauntless, one of the Royal Navy’s newest ships, arrives at 4pm on Friday and will remain in port until Sunday. During her time
CAMPAIGNERS wanting to raise awareness of mental health wanted to make as much noise as possible – so they called on the Army at Bovington. A tank smashed through a ‘Time to Change’ poster, as part of an event linked to national ‘Time to Talk’
An amazing 20 species of butterfly have now been found on the sides of one of the busiest roads in Dorset after wild flower seeds were planted on its flanks. The Weymouth Relief Road, which links the resort with Dorchester, has even attracted rare
VANDALS damaged a Bible in a church. Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident, which took place in St Eustace Church, Ibberton, near Blandford. It occurred between 11.30am on Sunday January 26 and 9.30am on Friday January 31.
I was delighted to see that David Cameron was able to visit Portland following the awful storm damage that has occurred there recently. I assume he arrived and departed by helicopter. Isn’t it a good job, therefore, that we still have a well-maintained
Would I be correct in surmising that Cllr Ian Roebuck (Dorset Echo 8.2.14) is a reasonably fit man? It may, of course, be an optical illusion but if the earlier photographs in the Echo are anything to go by, the elderly, frail and infirm are going
The recent appeal decision on Curtis Fields reflects the mayhem that this government has introduced into planning. Will it help to solve local housing problems? Not much. The Inspector’s report clearly says that the problem in Weymouth and
Five people were arrested following an operation in Wareham carried out by police supported by colleagues from the Department for Work and Pensions and the RSPCA. Two men and two women were arrested on suspicion of fraud. A 38-year-old man from
Community groups in West Dorset which qualify under the Community Right to Bid can notify their intention to bid for two properties that are up for sale. Broadwindsor Stores and The Bottle Inn at Marshwood are listed as assets of community value
Chainsaws, a motorised saw set and climbing kits were stolen when a van was broken into outside premises in Filleul Road, Sandford, Wareham on February 3. Information to Dorset Police on 101 quoting incident number 03:167.
A West Dorset company has landed a multi-million pound contract for the French armed forces. Amsafe Bridport has been awarded the £10.5 million contract for a multipurpose helicopter transport system, for the French armed forces helicopter fleet
MASSIVE boulders from Portland quarries have been rolled into place at Preston Beach in Weymouth in an effort to shore up the sea defences. The coast has taken a pounding by huge waves which have altered the shape of the coast. Work started late
THE physical effort exerted in winning at Eastbourne three days earlier played a big role in his side’s defeat to Havant & Waterlooville on Tuesday night in the eyes of Phil Simkin. Magpies’ boss Simkin felt the quick turnaround between games
STORM force winds whipped into West Dorset as the wild winter weather resumed its assault. Waves at West Bay threw up shingle with such force that cars parked well away from the beach had windows smashed. Meanwhile, anxious eyes were watching
A VIOLENT storm sent waves crashing over beaches, uprooted trees and toppled over vehicles as the coast was battered by more severe weather. Severe storm-force winds of more than 70mph whipped along the Dorset coast in the latest bout of wild weather
TWO people diced with death as they played near huge waves at high tide on Portland. The pair were spotted close to the breaking waves on Chesil Beach. They were seen to walk down to close to where the waves were breaking. A concerned onlooker
SERITA Shone has stepped up her bid to get to the British Championships but the Wey-mouth bobsleigh star still needs all the help she can get to compete in Austria next month. Without high-performance funding, Shone, who won bronze 12 months ago
