REVIEW OF THE YEAR: Comings and goings throughout the year - from May to August

In this article we take a look back on the start of the year, from May to August.

May

* Prince Charles made a special visit to the countryside to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Kingcombe Meadow Nature Reserve near Toller Porcorum. His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales last visited the reserve, which is run by Dorset Wildlife Trust, 30 years ago after helping to fund its development.

* The BIG Dorset Outdoor Weekend was a success attracting sports fans from near and far to try out new activities including paddle boarding and bowls. Visitors were treated to more than 25 outdoor activity and adventure events taking place across south Dorset, mostly in Weymouth and Portland. One of the event’s organiser, Roy Griffiths, suggested the weekend should become an annual event.

* Weymouth Sea Life Centre made an online dating profile for penguin singleton Spruce. The centre’s senior aquarist Sarah Everett acted as Spruce’s matchmaker and introduced the lone male penguin to the dating service Plenty of Fish. The fun idea came after conservationists in Kenya put the profile of Sudan, the last male white rhino on the dating site Tinder to highlight the plight of the planet’s most endangered creature. 

* Portland Harbour welcomed a magical guest into its waters. The Disney Magic made a stop at the harbour as part of a 15-night transatlantic crossing from Florida to Copenhagen. At more than 300m long, and with 2,909 passengers aboard, the Disney Magic is the biggest ship ever to dock at Portland.

* The Weymouth Sea Cadets took part in a Freedom Parade after being awarded the Freedom of the Borough by Weymouth and Portland Borough Council. The award marked the 75th anniversary of the unit and its work, and is the most prestigious honour a borough can give to a unit.

June

* The snap election resulted in a hung parliament and the Conservatives losing their parliamentary majority, however, a deal was later struck between the Conservatives and the DUP to form a majority government. MP Oliver Letwin and MP Richard Drax also retained their seats in West Dorset and South Dorset respectively.

* Dorchester BID launched a town tour app with the aid of the town’s crier Alistair Chisholm, who leant his voice to talk about the town’s fascinating heritage. The idea behind the app is to take visitors on a tour of the town’s history.

* Sian Kwan, a Dorchester mum suffering from a rare form of cancer, started her fundraising campaign to raise more than £100,000, which is the cost to go abroad for special treatment that could save her life. 

* Railway history was made after a service ran between Swanage and Wareham for the first time in 45 years. The return of the Isle of Purbeck train service came after decades of work by dedicated Swanage Railway volunteers. The railway linking the towns were demolished in 1972 and generations of enthusiasts have worked to rebuild and reconstruct the heritage line.

July

* Residents bid farewell to the Portland Coastguard helicopter. In honour of its last day in operation, the Portland search and rescue helicopter and the RNLI teamed up for one final training exercise. Onlookers snapped their last pictures of the vehicle from the shore.

* A former Weymouth and Portland rugby player was remembered at a special beach rugby festival. A memorial five-a-side rugby festival was organised in memory of Julian Quick, who sadly died from cancer aged just 28. The festival was held on Weymouth Beach and raised money for Weldmar Hospicecare, who helped Julian until his death in February.

* The 10th anniversary of the Pommery Dorset Seafood Festival was hailed a major success, and with 70,000 people attending – the best yet. The landmark event raised a magnificent £10,000 for charity.

* Weymouth’s seafront lighting was placed back on the borough council’s agenda and councillors voiced their opinions on plans to bring in a new Esplanade lighting scheme. The talks came after the council secured £200,000 from Dorset County Council’s Coastal Connections project to fund the new lights.

* Sir David Attenborough showed his support for Dorset’s declining butterfly population. Mr Attenborough urged the public to participate in the world’s largest butterfly survey, the Big Butterfly County, by spending 15 minutes counting butterflies during May until early August.

* Councillors voted against scrapping free deckchair passes for over 60s after a backlash from locals. Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s policy development committee voted to keep the 30-year-old policy for residents over 60 after a public consultation showed a high level of support for the policy to remain.

August 

* Weymouth and Portland Borough Council welcomed 33 upgraded car parking meters that accept card and phone payments. Councillor Colin Huckle, the borough spokesman for transport and infrastructure, welcomed the new car parking meters and said they would help save time and provide more payment options.

* Weymouth railway station was left at the bottom of the line, after it was revealed that the station has the worst amount of delays in the country. Data from Network Rail showed that the station has the highest percentage of delays and cancellations in the UK. The data revealed that 22.5 per cent of trains were delayed by at least 10 minutes or cancelled, which is a higher percentage than stations in London.

* A Dorset fisherman struck angling gold as he reeled in a whopper of a mackerel. Luke Biddiscombe, aged 28, from Gillingham, snared the biggest mackerel caught in 30 years in British waters. The cannibal fish measured almost 2ft long and weighed 4lbsfour times the size and weight of the average Atlantic mackerel.

* Weymouth Carnival proved to be another summer smasher and attracted hundreds of visitors to the seaside town. Memories of last year’s rain-hit carnival were forgotten with nothing but clear skies for the annual Red Arrows flight. Sadly, this year The Battle of Britain Memorial Flight display was withdrawn due to a technical fault, but that didn’t stop residents and visitors alike from soaking up the summer fun.

* South and west Dorset were left in the dark after a massive power cut hit thousands of homes and businesses. Traffic lights and rail lines failed due to the outage and there was disruption on the roads and highways.