THE ISSUE of adoption is zooming up the political agenda. This week is National Adoption Week and on Wednesday, after hearing that there are 50,000 children in institutional care, and 5,000 waiting to find adoptive families, the House of Lords defeated
1. Hollow Chocolate Bunnies Of The Apocalypse - Robert Rankin 2. Two Towers - J R R Tolkien 3. Butlerian Jihad - Brian Herbert 4. Star By Star - Star Wars 5. Polgara Sorceress - David Eddings 6. Men At Arms - Terry Pratchett 7. Man In High Castle - Phillip
Palin does his funny walk (drive, camel ride etc) from Morocco to Algeria via the desert and Timbuktu. Finds a lot of culture, a bit of sand and some lads making whoopee cushions out of dead sheep's scrotums. As you do when there's no skatepark.
The common factor when there's a war is that Adie's there. In the interests of world peace the UN should lock her up. Entertaining, though guarded, memoirs of a courageous trouper who has seen a deal of suffering. Starts with Kate's happy childhood in
BUDDING gardeners left their mark at Compton Acres by planting dozens of daffodil bulbs in a corner of the world-renowned gardens. Around 15 members of B&Q's Kids Gardening Club enjoyed a tour around the gardens and the special planting session. They
A MOTHER has added added her voice to calls for a ban on BB guns after her daughter was shot in the head at school. Rachel McGoldrick narrowly escaped severe damage to her eye when she was struck in the left temple with a ball-bearing fired just two metres
IT was a journey that would save her life but little did Anne Ranasinghe know, as she gazed longingly at her father through the train window, it would be the last time she ever saw him. It was at just 13 years of age that Anne - an only child from a Jewish
Talking of American intelligence agencies... (sorry, mustn't). Patterson's detective, Alex Cross, is about to resign from Washington Police and may hook up with the FBI when told his partner's Army pal has been framed for murder and could face execution
A FORMER ambulanceman has branded the failings of Dorset Ambulance bosses to listen to their own staff as deplorable. And he is calling on the board of directors to visit ambulance stations and speak to crews to hear their concerns and problems. But board
AMBITIOUS plans to revamp Compton Acres and try and make it a "must see" attraction have won the backing of Poole's planning officers. The proposals, which include adding a function room, restaurant, small shopping area and new garden area, will be recommended
THE speed limit on a road that has claimed two lives in seven months is to be reduced after councillors agreed last night that it was too dangerous. At the moment the Holes Bay Road in and out of Poole allows motorists to travel at 70mph along the dual
AN INVESTIGATION is to get under way at Bridport Town Council to find out why members were unaware of a £16,000 shortfall in funding for the town co-ordinator's post. A call for reviews of staffing needs and finance and employment procedures was also
BEAMINSTER'S award-winning tea and coffee company Clipper has received yet another honour for its sustainable packaging in the Soil Association's 2002 Organic Business Awards. The awards were presented on Monday at The Royal College of Surgeons, Lincoln's
POOLE Pirates lost ground at Foxhall Stadium, Ipswich last night in their quest to retain the Craven Shield. They gained just one heat advantage as the home team moved into pole position. The third leg of the final takes place at Coventry tomorrow night
CAMPAIGNERS today blasted the shabby state of Dorchester's eyesore roundabouts and claimed the town was being shamed by Weymouth. Resident Barry Smith has condemned the overgrown and rubbish-strewn major roundabouts at Monkey's Jump, Kingston Maurward
YOBS could be banned from all bars in Weymouth town centre. Licensees have signed up to Pub Watch, a new group that aims to crack down on crime in pubs and clubs via a radio link. Individual licensees can ban anyone at their own discretion, but Pub Watch
WEYMOUTH is never too far away from one tourist's heart. Clive Eddowes loves one of the resort's holiday parks so much he's had the name tattooed on his arm! The father of five, from Dudley, West Midlands, paid £30 to have the name Seaview inscribed above
PEOPLE who rent beach huts say they are being 'ripped off' by Weymouth and Port-land Borough Council. Tenants of chalets on the town's Esplanade met with councillors and officers from the council to register their anger over the possibility of a 15 per
A GIANT teddy bear was among a host of prizes raffled off in a cabaret night at Wyke Regis Working Men's Club in Weymouth. The club raised more than £600 from the draw and entertainment in aid of Macmillan Nurses. President Mick Jones said: "We are delighted
BUDDING mathematicians at a Weymouth school have found a formula for success after winning a maths competition. Pupils at Westhaven Junior School won the Budmouth primary maths challenge, beating 10 other schools from the Weymouth and Portland area. Miss
TRIBUTES have been paid to a young doctor from the New Forest who died in a car accident on Tuesday. Dr Emma Louise Chambers, 26, lived at Riverside Place, Fordingbridge, and worked as a senior house officer in the orthopaedic unit at Dorset County Hospital
A RARE Bronze Age decorative ring unearthed on the embankment of a disused railway in North Dorset is to go on public display. The 2,000-year-old ring has been in the hands of the British Museum since it was officially declared to be treasure trove at
AFC BOURNEMOUTH chairman Peter Phillips has called for calm amid fears that recent match-day altercations between fans and stewards could jeopardise the safety of supporters in the North Stand at the Fitness First Stadium. After an incident during the
FORMER professional footballer, long-time schoolmaster and local councillor Eric Wilkinson has died at his home in Winkton. He was 71. Mr Wilkinson began his soccer career as an inside forward with Bradford City in his native Yorkshire while still a teenager
HE is fighting fit and is raring to go raise money for the Daily Echo-backed Domino Appeal. For the past six months the appeal's fundraising manager Mike Denny has been busy getting fit at the David Lloyd Leisure Centre in Boscombe for an adventure of
MORE than 150 volunteers co-ordinated by EarthKind, a wildlife support group formed in the 1960s, will be clearing up litter from Studland beach as part of Make a Difference Day on October 26. The three-mile long beach attracts more than a million visitors
SEVERAL Bournemouth hotels have been left thousands of pounds out of pocket after failing to be paid for accommodating delegates during the Conservative Party Conference. Hy Group, the trading company of Bournemouth Action Holidays Company Limited, which
DORSET ambulance chiefs are studying pioneering proposals to treat abusive patients only if police escorts are guarding the paramedics. They are considering a new policy being adopted by the Avon Ambulance Trust whereby "problem" patients will be placed
SWIMMING with a dolphin has suddenly become a possibility for any Tom, Dick or Harry, with one of the creatures apparently having taken up residence off the coast of Dorset. Understandably, the experts are not keen on hordes of well-meaning, swimsuited
FIREFIGHTERS and control staff are expected to vote overwhelmingly in favour of strike action today - heralding the first national fire strike in 25 years. The result of the ballot on strike action, which has been held over the last three weeks, will
Bitter-sweet story of American singer Eva Cassidy, who died of cancer at 33 when virtually unknown. Through word of mouth (and Terry Wogan) her album "Songbird" subsequently topped the charts. Now Mum, Dad and friends honour her memory. Somewhere, over
This strange quiet-voiced creature has been bringing baboons and birds into your front room at night for 50 years. Take the kiwi, for example. To film it our creeping specimen got to the beach at dusk. "A small hunched homunculus stalked cautiously out
Herb starts reading a fairy tale and falls into the book. First he confronts bad-tempered Goldilocks, then a queen with a moustache (he shouldn't have done those doodles) and a wicked stepmother. Bright idea marred by typographical over-cleverness. Herb
THE 129-year history of Poole Pottery is detailed and celebrated in a new edition of a popular book. Well-known Poole historian Leslie Hayward has written the book, entitled "Poole Pottery - Carter and Co and their Successors 1873 to 2002". The 240-page
Hush-hush stuff. Impressive labyrinthine spy novel. Author? America's Le Carre. Plot? CIA activities during 40 years of Cold War. Who's the Soviet mole? Said too much already. Walls and ears, you understand. (One alleged idea to demoralise 'em? Drop jumbo
TOWN councillors at Bridport have pledged their support for the creation of an angling jetty at West Bay. At a meeting of the finance and general purposes committee on Wednesday, they agreed to look at ways to help in setting up a trust that would manage
BRIDPORT people will be going back to the days of courtly love with a medieval valentine's ball next year. It will be the first event to be held to celebrate the 750th year since the granting of the town's royal charter. And the group organising it says
A SPECIAL 'surgery' for people concerned about the possible effects of mobile phone masts is being held at Bridport Town Hall later this month. The session has been organised by the town council in response to fears expressed by people living near the
BEAMINSTER Museum asked 130 schools in the region to visit its living history exhibition Beaminster Ablaze! but not one took up the offer. The Beaminster Ablaze exhibition was specially extended to cover the beginning of the school term. In the musuem's
LISA SIMMONS will be heading off to far flung places in aid of a good cause when she travels to South America with Raleigh International. The 21-year-old law graduate from Ferndown is travelling to the jungles of Belize in February where she will spend
A MOTHER is keeping her 13-year-old son off school after he was sent on a cross-country run in winds of up to 65 mph. Trees, telephone lines and fences came down, while Dorset police warned motorists not to travel in the driving rain and hazardous conditions
ANGRY rail passengers are seeing red about a train firm which is still not running a new night service to Weymouth from London - despite pledging it a year ago. Train users have criticised South West Trains (SWT), which runs services between the town
WHIZZ kid Steven Smith from Dorchester has done the double after being named Pet Protector of the Year for the second time. The schoolboy scooped the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) title in successive years after donating hundreds of items
ALL Saints School is cultivating a clutch of prize-winning poets. Year 9 and 10 students at the Weymouth school have won prizes in a regional poetry competition. Winner was 14-year-old Joanne Davis from Weymouth who won over the judges with her poem about
PIMPERNE was named the overall winner at the 16th prize-giving of the Dorset Village of the Year awards last night. The village won first place in the Dorset Best Kept Village competition with Charminster second and Sturminster Marshall third. Village
HOSPITAL staff today paid tributes to talented and well-liked doctor Emma Louise Chambers after her death in a car crash. Dr Chambers, 26, died when her Peugeot car was in a rush hour crash with three other vehicles on the A354 near Puddletown. Friends
DEFIANT mink farmer Terence Smith has won the right to challenge the government over its allegedly "inadequate" compensation for the loss of his business. Mr Smith, who owns the operation at Crow Hill Farm near Ringwood, was one of ten fur farmers who
PUPILS at two North Dorset schools are firmly on the map, thanks to a gift from Ordnance Survey. MP Robert Walter visited St Leonard's Middle School and Milldown Middle School where he presented year seven children with their own copy of the local Ordnance
DREWITT'S, the firm which built some of this area's best-known landmarks, is celebrating its 125th anniversary today. The West Howe firm, now in its fifth generation, constructed the Winter Gardens, Beales and the Yellow Buses depot. Drewitt's was launched
FORMER Cherries boss Mel Machin was expected to be offered the post of Swindon Town manager today with Andy King likely to become director of football at the County Ground. Machin, who retired as director of football at Dean Court last month following
POLICE are appealing for witnesses and information after a man posing as a water company official called at the Christchurch home of an elderly lady and stole her handbag. The man called at the Burton home of the 84-year-old woman at around 7.45pm on
