IT'S Local Newspaper Week. To celebrate, we have opened the archives of the Dorset Echo to relive the biggest stories of the decades. Today, we take a look at the events of the 1940s, 50s and 60s.

WORLD War Two began in September, 1939 - and by the middle of the following year Weymouth found itself on the front line.

Weymouth suffered its first air-raid in June 1940 and although the total damage during the war was less severe than in other places, the town still had to endure nearly 50 raids before the final "all clear" sounded.

More than 500 bombs rained on Weymouth. One landmine practically demolished the whole of Chapelhay.

The Echo offices were bombed, and production of the paper was switched to Bournemouth until 1949.

It wasn't until the end of the war that the country was told how Weymouth and Portland had been used as embarkation points for D-Day landing forces.

And during the war the sea claimed more victims.

In 1944 a landing craft was blown ashore at Portland. Only four naval ratings from a crew of 13 survived, and two coastguards died while trying to rescue them.

Peace came in 1945, but Dorset still faced a war of its own - the war on unemployment.

This was heightened that year when Whiteheads made hundreds redundant.

The first complete year of peace brought yet another sea tragedy.

Four men were drowned after their small drifter was smashed to pieces at Portland Bill.

The Big Freeze hit South Dorset in 1947, an icy contrast to the raging heath fire at Wareham later that year which destroyed 20 years of forestry work and caused £25,000 worth of damage.

There were more deaths at sea that year when a liberty pinnace taking men to the aircraft carrier Illustrious foundered in Portland Harbour. Of the 50 on board 29 lost their lives.

The year that followed saw the opening of the Verne Prison at Portland; the reopening of the rebuilt Echo offices; Dorset's worst drought- and another tragedy off Portland.

The 50s brought new hope to a country still recovering from war.

The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth, the Festival of Britain and the conquest of Mount Everest all helped lighten the gloom of austerity.

In 1950, the Echo splashed on news that Portland Stone Firms had secured a $200,000 contract for the Assembly Hall and Meeting Hall of the United Nations building in New York.

In May Weymouth Pavilion was reopened as the Ritz Theatre.

But it wasn't a year without tragedy, and two officers were killed and others badly injured when a hand grenade exploded on board the destroyer Myngs, off Portland.

A greater Naval disaster followed in 1951.

All 75 aboard the submarine Affray were lost when it sank between Start Point and the Needles.

Dorset Servicemen found themselves hurled into the conflict of the Korean War, and others saw action in Malaya and the Suez Canal Zone.

One of the few cheering stories from Weymouth that year was how Godfrey Chapman became the first local man to swim the English Channel.

The beginning of the end was signalled for Portland's railway link when the passenger service between Weymouth and Easton was closed.

Weymouth's Ritz Theatre was burnt down in 1954, causing £80,000- worth of damage.

In June, 1955, came another Naval disaster when the submarine Sidon sank in Portland Harbour after an explosion. Thirteen men were killed.

In July tropical - type cloudbursts flooded vast areas, and a national rainfall record was set at Martinstown.

And in this year of torrents and tragedy, demolition experts set about pulling down the burned-out shell of the Ritz Theatre.

History was made in 1956 when Mrs Charlotte Wootton became Weymouth's first lady mayor.

Out on Thomas Hardy's Egdon Heath, the site was prepared for the building of what Sir John Cockcroft described as "a second Harwell" - Winfrith Atomic Energy Establishment. This was just one of the major stories in 1957.

South Dorset's MP Lord Hinchingbrooke, earned the tag of "rebel" by refusing to conform with the Government's policy over Suez.

He looked to his electorate, who gave him a vote of confidence.

Things were a little quieter in 1958.

In Weymouth a start was made on rebuilding on the site of the Ritz after a marathon High Court hearing into disputes and work also commenced n the new Portland helicopter base.

The first year of the Swinging Sixties was a year of firsts in many ways.

British Railways introduced the first of two new cross-Channel passenger ships, the Caesarea, for the service between Weymouth and the Channel Islands.

The new Pavilion, built on the site of the Ritz, was opened.

Death came at sea again when nine men on board the coaster Lesrix disappeared between Portland Bill and Start Point. Later wreckage was later washed ashore at Portland.

There was bad news of a different kind for people who were trying to bring more industry to Weymouth. Clarks, the Somerset shoe firm, turned down an offer to open a factory in the town.

In 1961 Portland became the focus of national and international attention. It was the year of the Portland Spy Case.

The South Dorset electorate sent a Labour candidate to Parliament for the first time, voting in Guy Barnett, after Lord Hinchingbrooke had been elevated to the House of Lords as Earl of Sandwich.

Weymouth Football Club enjoyed a record run in the FA Cup, reaching the fourth round for the first time against Preston North End.

As 1962 came to a close a blizzard swept South Dorset, slicing Weymouth off from the rest of the country.

In Weymouth a public inquiry was opened into the proposal to build a Butlin's holiday camp at Lodmoor. The following year the go-ahead was given to build the camp - but further delays followed and Butlin's never came.

The year 1965 will be recalled by people living in South Dorset as a year of conquest.

Weymouth Football Club won the Southern League championship for the first time in their history under the leadership of manager Frank O'Farrell.

Teenager Philip Gollop become the youngest man to swim the Channel and Lesley Langley, of Weymouth, succeeded Ann Sidney, of Poole, as Miss World.

Industrial troubles came to a head in 1969 when local teachers, dockers and dustmen went on strike.

And after years of discussion and planning Weymouth switched to a one-way system.