IT SEEMED the answer to their problems. Higher education was expanding at a vast rate, with more students and additional courses vying for cramped space at Bournemouth University. When private developer Teesland approached the campus to see if it was
AS the old saying goes, you should never work with children or animals. But when I and Echo deputy chief photographer Hattie Miles visited Sopley Primary School, to our surprise - and relief - we discovered the children were a delight to work with. They
CINEMA usherette Joan Hetreed will have plenty to beam with pride about when the Oscar-nominated film Girl with a Pearl Earring comes to her picture house this Friday (Feb 6). As well as showing cinema-goers to their seats and selling ice creams at the
PARKSTONE'S John Smith is to continue as Dorset's country golf captain next season. He was due to stand down in March after being in charge for two years. But his elected Vice-Captain Steve Barnes (Dudsbury) has withdrawn. County secretary Doug Pratt
40 Campbell Road, Burton; 8/04/0050, retention of summer house in rear garden, retention of wooden gate and close boarded fencing on existing wall fronting Campbell Road; L Joyce. Travel Inn, Somerford Road; 8/04/0051, erection of internally illuminated
SYDENHAMS Wessex League fixture secretary Malcolm Watts could still manage a smile on Saturday despite seeing his fixture list almost completely washed out. AFC Totton Reserves' 4-3 victory over Bemerton Heath Harlequins at Testwood Park was the only
Dorset & Wilts Division Two South Poole 5 Bridport 15 BRIDPORT experienced some of the worst conditions so far this season at Poole's Turlin Moor ground. A ferocious cross wind blew in from the adjacent Poole harbour and huge puddles covered the length
Powergen South West Division Two East Swanage & Wareham 21 Windsor 5 THE wind and rain played a huge part in this Bestwall encounter with most of the action taking place down the eastern touchline. But despite this, Swanage and Wareham did enough
Dorset & Wilts Division Two S PUDDLETOWN 5 MARTOCK 13 Puddletown hosted league leaders Martock on a wet and very windy day at Green-fields. With the villagers playing against the elements, the first half could not have started any worse for them as
MARK Morris is gearing his side up for another hard slog in the wind and rain when they take on Eastern Division big spenders Eastleigh in the fourth round of the Dr Martens Cup at the Avenue Stadium tonight (7.45pm) "Hopefully it won't be quite as bad
TERRAS fans plan to boycott Weymouth's potential Dr Martens Cup tie at Dorchester next week in protest over safety at the Avenue Stadium. Some supporters are still furious over segregation arrangements when the two sides met on New Year's Day. They have
AT least one-in-three bosses blame themselves for the "10 per cent of workers are incompetent" statistic currently doing the rounds of offices, shops and factories. Forty per cent of bosses across the UK have given their workers no training - despite
PENSIONS investors across the UK could suffer if companies miscalculate life expectancy rates by even one year, experts warn. Pension costs rise by 3.5 per cent for every extra year of life expectancy, says insurance broker Aon Consulting. Companies would
THE old clich that an organisation is as strong as its weakest link is as true of a small Dorset business as it is of a mighty multinational. The dramatic resignations of the BBC's top men last week because one of their 24,000 employees made a mistake
A FURIOUS outcry by residents at plans for another mobile phone mast in an East Dorset plantation has prompted councillors into visiting the site. Colehill First School, the parish council and more than 30 local people are up in arms at Vodafone's proposal
Various - School of Rock (Atlantic) THE soundtrack to Jack Black's entertaining new comedy about a teacher who tutors his class in the intricacies of all things rawk (no, we're not talking geology here) is a perfect primer for under-15s who have not yet
ACTOR Damien Matthews says he never thought he could be frightened by the theatre until he appeared in the long-running spine-chiller The Women In Black. "It scared the living daylights out of me," he admits. "It really is quite extraordinary. It's terrifying
THE family of missing Nicholas Berry were bracing themselves today after a body was found just outside Weymouth Harbour. Experts are due to carry out tests to establish the identity of the man after a crew on the harbour launch pulled the body out of
HUNDREDS of county council workers in Dorset will be made redundant as a result of service cuts, trade union officials have claimed. Branch leaders of the public service workers' union UNISON said they have been informed about the job losses by human
YOUR HELP WAS JUST WONDERFUL JUST recently 'yob culture' around Dorset has featured heavily in the news, much to many people's dismay. But all is not lost; the following is the story of a small incident showing a more compassionate side of ordinary people's
SHOPPERS were urged to go green when council officials unveiled plans for a new recycling scheme in the Dorchester area. Council representatives took to the streets of the county town for the first of a series of roadshows to explain how the scheme will
ANOTHER post office in Weymouth is to close. Lanehouse is to become the sixth branch in the resort to shut its doors after Post Office Ltd agreed to improve access to the Charlestown office. The company announced plans last year to axe seven of the town's
IT WAS eyes right at the annual church parade of Dorset's Air Training Corps. Hundreds of 13 to 16-year-olds from all over the county joined a special service held at St Mary's Church in Edward Road on Sunday. Then the Boys' Brigade band led a drill parade
A PARAMEDICS scheme on Portland has been hailed a success after figures revealed a 100 per cent success rate for serious emergency calls. Two paramedics from Dorset Ambulance Service have been working with medical staff at the Immediate Care Centre since
IF YOU are caring for a child with special needs, where can you turn for practical help and advice? Local author Sarah Newman, 40, from Tiptoe, near Sway, has drawn on her own experiences of bringing up an autistic son to produce a new guide for parents
TWO masked men armed with a blunt instrument knocked a postmistress to the floor before escaping with the contents of her safe. Pat Osborne was confronted by the balaclava-clad robbers as she opened up Charlton Marshall sub-post office yesterday. The
FORGET Hutton. The big story, of course, is I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! Squirm as rats swarm over ex-Royal correspondent Jennie Bond's face! Gasp as ostrich-pecked John Lydon is transformed into Colonel Kurtz from Conrad's Heart of Darkness
THIS prime piece of town centre land has blown a staggering £934,000 hole in Bournemouth University's finances after an amazing planning blunder. Academic bosses had hoped to develop teaching facilities and student accommodation on the Ocean Gate site
ONE of Bournemouth's town centre car parks is on the market in a bid to save the Winter Gardens. Terrace Mount car park is expected to raise up to £6.5 million for Bournemouth Borough Council if a developer builds around 100 flats there. The 2.36 acre
THE Obscura Cafe in Bournemouth's Square has paid no rent to the council during the last financial year because of a legal wrangle. Bournemouth Borough Council said it could not take any rent money from the business during the dispute, the details of
SUPER new ocean liner Queen Mary 2 has been in the news lately - but Poole musician Bobby Bigwood has fond memories of her famous predecessor. Accordionist Bobby was aboard the original Queen Mary for her farewell cruise before she set out for America
FOR many youngsters a trip to Leeson House is a memorable first adventure away from home. Learning how to make your own bed may be the first valuable lesson - for many it is the first time they see wild animals such as deer or badgers. It is fair to say
HUMAN rights campaigner Bruce Harris, accused of attacking the honour of a Guatemalan lawyer, has been cleared. Mr Harris from Wareham could have faced up to five years in a Guatemalan prison if he had been convicted of criminal defamation. It had been
PAUL Jones has started the New Year where he left off last season. After dominating the Bournemouth Alliance-Dorset PGA in 2003, he opened with another comfortable victory in the opening meeting at Knighton Heath. The 26-year-old Canford Magna assistant
A PATIENT detained at a top Dorset psychiatric hospital for taking hostages was allowed to walk out, a BBC documentary claimed last night. The man, sectioned under the Mental Health Act, was secretly filmed as he sat beside the front door of St Ann's
JERMAIN Defoe joined Tottenham for £7million with Bobby Zamora moving in the opposite direction to West Ham yesterday. England Under-21 international Defoe handed in a transfer request last summer in the wake of West Ham's relegation from the Barclaycard
PORTLAND United will be out to complete their first Sydenhams Wessex League double of the season when they entertain struggling Downton at Grove Corner tonight (3pm). The Blues scored a 1-0 success up at Wick Lane in August thanks to an Andy Mason strike
Powergen Dorset and Wilts Division One Weymouth 22 Supermarine 32 HAVING lost the toss at Redlands, the Seasiders had to start this match facing into the gale that lashed driving rain across the Dorchester Road venue. And it came as little surprise when
South-West Division, Southern Counties South TADLEY 15 DORCHESTER 10 DORCHESTER suffered a severe setback to their promotion hopes with this defeat at the hands of their close rivals. The wind and rain clearly favoured Tadley's style of play, but the
FARMLAND prices have hit a record high - £7,931 per hectare, up 7.3 per cent on 2002 - as city-slickers continue to buy up rural retreats. Non-farmers were the buyers for 51 per cent of farm sales during the final three months of 2003, said the Royal
REMAINS of a giant plant-eating dinosaur have been found on Portland. The rare fossilised foot bone, which could be up to 83 million years old, was discovered by quarryman Dale Brockle-hurst in rocks known as the Purbeck Beds, which are famous for dinosaur
DOCTORS have attacked a new council parking scheme for the disabled. The disabled badge holders car park dispensation allows certain people in Weymouth and Portland free parking in council-owned car parks. People over 65 who cannot walk more than 30 metres
OPPOSITION to Portland's proposed wind farm development is mounting from environmental campaigners. The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds is meeting this week with ornithologists from all over Dorset to discuss implications any turbines may have
TWO masked men armed with a blunt instrument knocked a postmistress to the floor before escaping with the contents of her safe. Pat Osborne was confronted by the balaclava-clad robbers as she opened up Charlton Marshall sub-post office yesterday (Feb
NORTH Dorset is one of three councils in the south-west to share in £9.7 million of government funding. And council bosses at North Dorset will use the resources to set up Baldric - Building of a Local Dorset Regeneration Initiative in the Community -
JOE Roach admits he is relishing the prospect of becoming Sean O'Driscoll's caretaker assistant manager. O'Driscoll has asked Roach (left) to act as his right-hand man until a permanent number two is appointed as a replacement for Peter Grant. Roach,
CHERRIES boss Sean O'Driscoll says he is keen to take a second look at Aston Villa defender Jonathan Bewers. The cultured centre-half impressed O'Driscoll during Cherries' 2-1 win over Pontin's Holidays Combination rivals Bristol Rovers last week. Bewers
CHERRIES boss Sean O'Driscoll says he is keen to take a second look at Aston Villa defender Jonathan Bewers. The cultured centre-half impressed O'Driscoll during Cherries' 2-1 win over Pontin's Holidays Combination rivals Bristol Rovers last week. Bewers
MORE desperately worried people have spoken out in favour of saving the threatened Juniper Centre in Christchurch. On Monday, the Daily Echo launched a campaign to save the centre in Jumpers Road, which provides health and educational day care for 100
