A stunning image of St Catherine’s Chapel scooped first prize in the photographic competition run by the Echo in conjunction with BMI The Winterbourne Hospital in Dorchester.

The picture was taken by Ian Alcock from the county town who bagged a top prize of £500 for his efforts.

A keen amateur photographer, Ian spends hours waiting for just the right light for his stunning landscape compositions.

Father-of-three Mr Alcock, 48, said: “I am absolutely delighted to win. There were some great photographs in the competition and I was delighted the judges chose mine.

“I will invest the prize money in some new photographic equipment.”

Pete Vincent and Gary Heald, both from Weymouth, were second and third for their respective images of coastal scenes.

Theresa Starling, executive director of the Winterbourne, said: “We wanted to invite the local community to celebrate our BMI The Winterbourne Hospital’s 30th birthday by sending in their best photographs of the local area.

“It was wonderful to see so many entries and we were delighted with the quality and skill that Dorchester has to offer.

“We are now proudly displaying the 30 photographs in the hospital for our patients to appreciate, as voted for by the Dorset Echo readers.”

Dorset Echo editor Toby Granville said: “We were delighted to join forces with BMI The Winterbourne Hospital to help it celebrate its 30th birthday with such an innovative competition.

“We were also delighted by the quality of the photographs that were submitted and it is great that they will now be enjoyed by the hospital patients for years to come.”

BMI The Winterbourne Hospital this year celebrates 30 years of providing private healthcare to the local community.

Over the past 30 years the hospital has seen the variety of services and treatments grow to include fertility, hydrotherapy and imaging while plans to expand on the hospital’s high dependency unit will look to increase the level of complex surgery available.

As part of the birthday celebrations 33 members of hospital staff received long service pins for providing a combined service total of 520 years in a ceremony earlier this month.

Three members of staff who have been with the hospital since it opened were presented with bouquets of flowers by special guests Mrs Tessa Russell and Mrs Pippa James, daughters of the late Simon Chick, who was one of the founding members of the hospital in 1982.