PREPARATIONS for this year’s Open 4 Business Dorset awards have begun. This year Open 4 Business will focus on the ‘legacy’ created by the Olympic sailing in the summer, organisers say. A single business conference will replace the usual events programme
People across Dorset are being encouraged to put a spring in their step and get active as part of International Fitness Week. Dr Gabriel Scally, director of public health for NHS South of England said: “Now that the weather is warming up and our winter
A week of marine themed events is on offer from Dorset Wildlife Trust this Easter holiday. They range from glass bottom kayaking and underwater goggle viewers to a marine themed Easter egg hunt along the shores of Kimmeridge Bay. Exploring the coast
SPRING was in the air at a fundraising event where volunteers, members of the public and even a big sheep turned out to support a local charity. Organisers of the Joseph Weld Hospice Spring Fayre hoped to raise more than £1,000 from the event in a bid
Last month the Dorset Echo in conjunction with Castle Cameras launched the Dorset Book 2012 photographic competition. Since the competition closed we have sorted through well over 1,000 images to select the top five. The winner will
THE widow of writer John Fowles has blasted an appeal launched by the Landmark Trust for the author’s Lyme Regis home. The charity has just begun a public appeal for £2.1million to safeguard Belmont, the eighteenth century Grade II* listed building which
GREEN FINGERED pupils at a school in Dorchester have planted a long-lasting celebration of the Diamond Jubilee. The Thomas Hardye Student Voice and children from Summer-time Nursery in Queens Avenue planted the hedge to commemorate the event. The Woodland
A BUSINESS owner is cooking up a storm after coming top in a pork scratching taste test. John Shakespeare, of Shakey’s Traditional Black Country Pork Scratchings on Portland, was named number one in a Financial Times Magazine competition. He said: “
THE British Heart Foundation is looking for Dorset swimmers to help them raise £48,000 to beat heart disease. This year’s Weymouth Bay swim will take place on Sunday, June 17, Father’s Day, and the organisers are hoping around 600 people will take on
WHEN I was invited to try out the world’s first 100 per cent organic heating massage, I jumped at it. I’m a sucker for a beauty treatment. You name it, you’ll find me in Boots on Sunday buying it. Because of the amount of money I’ve poured away on
BUSINESS owners have hit out against an “outrageous” rise in the cost of workers’ parking permits. Weymouth and Portland Borough Council is scrapping the Annual Highway Dispensation Scheme, which allows people to park in one- hour bays for longer than
HIGH-SPEED technology will be available to another 32,000 homes and businesses in the county by spring 2013, a communications giant has pledged. BT has announced the latest phase of its £2.5billion roll-out of super-fast fibre broadband in the UK, which
A well-preserved historic crocodile skull discovered on the Jurassic Coast has been declared a new species. The 130million-year-old specimen has been named Goniopholis Kiplini after Rudyard Kipling – author of The Jungle Book – in recognition of his
TWO people were taken to hospital after a collision in Weymouth. The crash occurred at 7.45am yesterday and long queues of traffic had built up at the Jurassic Roundabout, Littlemoor at the end of Weymouth Relief Road before the incident was cleared
Vital statistics Name Saskia Clark Date of birth: August 23 1979 Star sign: Leo Place of birth: Colchester, Essex Current hometown: Weymouth Nickname: Sas First boat sailed and where? Blue Peter dinghy
Vital statistics Name: Hannah Mills Date of birth: February 29 1988 Star sign: Pisces Place of birth: Cardiff Current hometown: Weymouth First boat sailed and where? Mirror dinghy out of Mylor Sailing Club
SOME of music’s brightest young stars head to Bournemouth this month to prove that folk music is entering an exciting new era. Ambitious prog-folk quintet The Moulettes, BBC Young Folk Award winner Megan Henwood and local favourites Fearne are just a
GATORFREIGHT, SIMON ELLISON, of Sackmore Green, Marnhull. Proved in absence of keeping a vehicle on a public road which was unlicensed. Fined £650, ordered to pay vehicle excise back duty of £744.59 and £60 costs. TAMARA JAYNE FRY, aged 20, of Fairfield
KEEP fighting to save your lifesavers – that’s the message from campaigners trying to stop Coastguard services being cut. National campaign Coastguard SOS was set up after the government announced consultations on the future of the service 18 months
Has anyone else noticed the uncanny resemblance between the new WDDC building and a gigantic cruise liner? They just need to add four funnels and finish it for April 15 (day the Titanic sank). Vicki Black Ashington Street Dorchester
Why are we heading towards more and more people being forced into fuel poverty by big, profit-first companies who do not pass on the true reductions in wholesale fuel prices to their customers? If you are concerned, like me, please join our campaign at
KYLE MCLEOD CLARKE, aged 24, of Pymore, Bridport. Admitted driving without third party insurance on a road, namely Downes Street, Bridport. Fined £65, ordered to pay £35 costs.
KERRY ANN LAVELLE, also known as KELLY ANN LAVELLE, aged 37, of London Close, Dorchester. Admitting failing without reasonable excuse to comply with the requirements of a community order made by Weymouth Magistrates Court. Community order revoked. Dealt
ANDREW WILLIAM SONGHURST, aged 33, of Reforne, Portland. Admitted possessing an offensive weapon, namely a wooden rounders bat in a public place, namely Gloucester Mews, Weymouth. Community order made. Order to pay £85 costs. Also admitted failing to
LEE GANNON, no age given, of Chickerell Road, Weymouth. Proved in absence of being the registered keeper of a vehicle and failed to deliver to the Secretary of State that part of the registration document containing the required particulars relating
Forget relief roads, laser seafront lights and the Olympics. It takes me three hours by train from Nottingham to Kent, and six hours to Weymouth. It takes me just over an hour from Nottingham to Jersey by air. To bring Weymouth into the 21st century
On a couple of occasions recently, I have had to drive to Weymouth train station from Greenhill. Obviously, turning down by the clock, and then turning right into the station, is easier now the new road layout has done away with the ridiculous ban on
I REFER to the letter from Councillor Ray Banham (Have Your Say, March 9). Most towns are not suffering, despite his claim. On a recent visit to Weston-Super-Mare there were only two shops closed in the main street. Most of the shops in Weymouth won
A MOTORCYCLIST from Bere Regis has died following a collision on one of Dorset’s busiest roads yesterday morning. The A31 at Ferndown was shut for hours following the crash between a car and a motorbike at the junction with Uddens Drive at around 7.15am
A MAN was attacked by two thugs as he walked on the outskirts of a town in the middle of the day. Police said the 22-year-old victim was punched and kicked by two offenders on a track near Skilling Hill Road, Bridport. The victim, who lives in Bridport
TV Sports presenter John Inverdale encouraged the people of Weymouth and Portland to get behind the Olympics. He spoke as hundreds of Games Makers descended on Weymouth Pavilion for their first training session for the Olympic and Paralympic sailing.
DEFENDER Sam Poole has been ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing a brain scan. The Weymouth centre-back has been suffering from migraines ever since Saturday’s horrific clash of heads with team-mate Ben Gerring in the 3-1 defeat
ALAN Knight may have seen his Magpies suffer a third consecutive defeat last night, but the county town chief insists he could not fault their efforts. Jamie Slabber and Adam Tann put Chelmsford City in control at the Avenue Stadium and although Ryan
Dorchester TOWN 1 Dovell 63 CHELMSFORD CITY 2 Slabber 32, Tann 45 DESPITE a spirited second-half show, Dorchester Town were unable to prevent a third straight defeat in Blue Square Bet South. After a fairly even start, play-off chasing
SOL Gilday-Evans and Kieron Wilson treated fans to a battle of wits and hits at a sell-out tournament in Gloucester organised by Baker Street ABC. Dorchester & District ABC member Gilday-Evans came out fast in the opening round and caught his Carl’s
BRIDPORT 1 MERTHYR TOWN 2 BRIDPORT pushed an impressive Merthyr Town side all the way at St Mary’s Field last night. The game looked over at half-time with the visitors 2-0 up but the Bees came out in the second half and put up a great fight
WEYMOUTH Swimming Club produced a flurry of personal best times at the Dorset County Championships in Bournemouth. Sixteen swimmers represented the Knightsdale Road outfit at the Littledown Centre with half of them claiming top-eight finishes
SALWAY Ash School were the winners of the West Dorset Schools’ Sports Association High 5 Netball tournament. Held at Sir John Colfox School in Bridport, the keenly contested event was run by sports leaders from the hosts, Beaminster and Budmouth schools
HUNDREDS of West Dorset young rowers descended on a Weymouth secondary school to race in a qualifying event for a county competition. Pupils worked in teams of four to cover a distance of 2,012 metres on indoor rowing machines and supporters cheered
TORNADOES of South Dorset travelled to the Littledown Centre in Bournemouth for the final of the Dorset Novice League. The team of 21 swimmers, captained by Tom Wildman and Lauren Leatherland, competed in 44 hotly-contested events on the night
BEN Geyser’s ultimate dream is to produce Dorset’s first-ever Olympic boxing champion. “That’s what I live for – to have an Olympic champion,” said the head coach at Dorchester & District Amateur Boxing Club. “It’s every coach’s dream to have an Olympic
JAY Lelliott once again dominated the men’s events on the second weekend of the Dorset Swimming Championships. Not only did the Tornadoes of South Dorset member set his third county senior record in the event with a winning time of 2:02.12
DORCHESTER Middle School was victorious at the West Dorset Primary Schools Swimming Gala. Spurred on by tremendous support, the 16-strong squad swam with vigour to become Year Five/Six champions with five members picking up individual first places, including
Dorchester 1 Dovell 63 CHELMSFORD CITY 2 Slabber 32, Tann 45 DESPITE a spirited second-half show, Dorchester Town were unable to prevent a third straight defeat in Blue Square Bet South. After a fairly even start, play-off chasing
