Archive

  • Drivers hit with road closures at Canford Bottom roundabout

    ALL four local roads on to the Canford Bottom roundabout are closed for the next four weeks. Only the A31 through the busy junction between Wimborne and Ferndown is open during the second phase of road closures on a £5.7million junction improvement scheme

  • Former BSO leader's inspired choice of works melted hearts

    In welcoming back the former leader of the BSO Duncan Riddell in the capacity of visiting conductor, I think the majority of us were grateful for his inspired choice of works. They were all from the great masters, yet their concert appearances are few

  • Bournemouth singer invited to perform for family of otters

    A SINGER-songwriter from Bournemouth landed an unusual gig – serenading a family of otters. Krista Green was invited to play for animals at Weymouth Sea Life Park. The otter cubs, just four-and-a-half months old, came out to investigate

  • Puppet Festival and workshop proves a hit at Lighthouse

    IT may have been one of the more wooden performances to grace Poole’s Lighthouse Theatre – but the youngsters loved it just the same. The arts centre has been holding its first Puppet Festival and the Pinocchio Puppet Workshop – where children

  • Father and son team from Bournemouth take on skydive

    A FATHER and son from Bournemouth will be making the extra day of this leap year count, by taking part in a charity skydive. Stuart and Mark Broomfield have decided to take on the 10,000 drop, in order to raise awareness and funds for the Muscular Dystrophy

  • Classmates of Andy Summers of The Police hoping for reunion

    HE was the lead guitarist in The Police, playing alongside Sting and drummer Stuart Copeland... and Andy Summers is today a huge name in the annals of rock. But the former Bournemouth classmates of Andy Summers – who launched a solo career after

  • Holidays don't have to cost the earth

    Like comedy, good holiday MoneySaving is about timing. Unlike comedy, people don’t groan when I try it. The key to minimum cost and maximum holiday enjoyment is pre-planning. So here are my top 10 need-to-know-nows if you're heading abroad in 2012

  • Bournemouth council considering buying more homes in Boscombe

    BOURNEMOUTH Council is considering buying up properties in Boscombe and refitting them as council homes. The suggestion is one of those being considered as it develops a strategy to tackle the area’s poor housing. The council believes the state of

  • Jenny's Week: Harvey's - a secret everyone should know.

    Harveys, a small family run café at 292 Ashley Road, Parkstone, is a wonderful secret that deserves to be better known. I had been aware of the place for years. Well, you can’t really escape its presence when they put the enormous ice cream licking

  • AFC Bournemouth relaunches discount tickets scheme

    AFC BOURNEMOUTH has relaunched its scheme to offer discounted tickets to key workers. The Cherries host Carlisle at the Seward Stadium on Saturday March 17 and key workers can buy two adult tickets for £10 each, and up to two U16 tickets for just £2

  • Theatre club's tribute to former mayor Keith Rawlings

    A PHOTOGRAPH has been unveiled at Bournemouth Little Theatre Club to commemorate its long association with former mayor Keith Rawlings. The picture, which has been put up at the club’s premises in Jameson Road, Winton, marks the fact that Keith

  • Branksome Heath Middle School: why we love our school

    Fiona Locke, head of Year 6: “I have three children of my own who’ve been to various schools in Poole and Dorset. “This school for me stands out. If I weren’t a teacher here, it would be the school my children would be at.” Lee Rockingham, a teacher

  • Branksome Heath Middle School: factfile

    SIZE: 498 pupils in 18 classes. PUPILS: 21 nationalities. HISTORY: A school has existed in the area since the 1870s, when it was in Croft Road and called Kinson Heath. It moved to the current site in the mid-1960s, where it shared

  • Branksome Heath Middle School: making learning fun

    ASK any child at Branksome Heath Middle School “What’s your core task?” and he or she will usually answer quickly: “To learn.” And staff bear in mind their own core task: “To teach.” Head teacher Stuart Fox says: “I take parents around

  • Ballroom returns to Bournemouth Pavilion

    BALLROOM dancing returned with a swing to Bournemouth’s Pavilion Ballroom. Mel Douglas, the dance’s organiser, led the music, which saw around 100 couples take to the floor for Valentine’s Day, for a tea dance and later the main event, the Valentine’

  • Bournemouth science society given £48k

    BOURNEMOUTH Natural Science Society has won £47,800 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for a project called Bournemouth Naturally. The project aims to inspire local volunteers to observe and record the wildlife in the green spaces of Bournemouth

  • Brother of Pete Townsend hosts rock and roll night at Mr Kyps

    WHO is Simon Townshend? Well, he’s the son of a top big-band reed man and the baby brother of Who legend Pete Townshend. This Friday, critically acclaimed musician Simon Townshend comes to Mr Kyps in Poole for a night of rock and roll. Simon has been

  • "Time to tackle drunkenness scandal" says councillor

    DAVID Cameron’s pledge to tackle the “scandal of public drunkenness” has been applauded by a Bournemouth councillor who has consistently campaigned for tough action. The Prime Minister yesterday hit out at the “reckless” behaviour of an “irresponsible

  • Sex crimes down 50 per cent in Bournemouth

    A CAMPAIGN to eradicate alcohol-fuelled sex offences in Bournemouth has been hailed a success following a 50 per cent drop in reported crimes. The hard-hitting project was launched in the summer last year following a worrying rise in incidents

  • Poole budget proposals face a full council

    POOLE’S budget proposals have made their way through cabinet and now face the hurdle of a full council. Next Thursday the Conservative administration’s proposals for a balanced budget go before a full meeting of the hung Borough of Poole.

  • Remember the days of council stables?

    REGARDING the El Cabala coffee bar in Old Christchurch Road, there was one of the same name in Christchurch Road, Boscombe, opposite the Palmerston pub in the early 1960s. Does anyone remember the stables the council had for their shire horses, dustcarts

  • Thanks for helping us both after a fall

    MY husband and I had a fall in Victoria Road. We would like to thank the people who stopped to help and the young girl who called the ambulance. They were there in three to four minutes. The crew were great. Thank you all. JEAN DASHWOOD Victoria Road

  • Use of camera car is very crass tactic

    THE decline of shopping in the retail areas of Poole in this economic downturn will accelerate even faster due to unfortunate shoppers being harried by virtue of the Borough of Poole’s new camera car. This is an appalling acquisition- £67k of taxpayers

  • Why was so much bypass coned-off?

    I WOULD love to know why Upton Bypass has been coned off to one lane all over last weekend when nobody was apparently working on the two or three small fenced-off work sites. Does it really have to be coned off from Holes Bay roundabout to Upton House

  • NHS as we know it is likely to vanish

    CONOR Burns, MP for Bournemouth West, is anxious for the bill reforming the NHS to receive the Royal Assent and so pass quickly into law (Echo, February 14). When that happens the NHS as we know it will disappear. New proposals put forward by Mr Lansley

  • Fears for future of Christchurch

    I REFER to recent reports referring to Christchurch High Street and Saxon Square. I for one am very concerned how it is being developed especially Saxon Square. It is now mainly coffee shops plus a pasty shop, with all the tables and

  • Closing time for drunken culture

    Time gentlemen and ladies please. Over the past few years a culture has developed where too many people think it acceptable, almost admirable, to be out of their skulls on the streets. That’s why few will argue with David Cameron’s vow to tackle the

  • Less complicated approach

    FOLLOWING last year’s announcement of the Borough of Poole’s new proposal for garden waste collection, the public response has been mainly in opposition. However, the real issue which seems to have been overlooked is the damaging impact of such a scheme

  • Road reopened after collision in Lymington

    A MAN has been taken to hospital with serious injuries after a collision with a car in Lymington this morning. The incident is believed to have taken place on the A337 Milford Road between South Street and the B3058 Lymington Road around 6.45am

  • Showdown At The Sloop, Poole

    THE finals of the Showdown At The Sloop saw the winner walking away with £500. The finalists were local bands Jich, Law Makers, Jen and Berry's, Hot Lava Jave, Gehko, Kimari Raven, Constellation and Mobius Strip. Hot Lava Java gave a solid

  • Tenors Unlimited, Tivlo Theatre, Wimborne

    Ever since Domingo, Carreras and Pavarotti first enchanted audiences with the power of trained operatic lungs, the world has discovered a taste for quality voices dedicated to a mix of classical arias and the kind of enduring vocal favourites that my

  • Time To Kill, Bournemouth Little Theatre Club

    BOURNEMOUTH Little Theatre Club presented a quality production of Leslie Darbon’s Time to Kill clearly imbued with the stamp of Lee Tilson’s considered direction. Well cast actors navigate themselves through this comedy turned drama investigating the

  • Olly Murs: an all-round musical talent

    WITH number one singles, two albums and a burgeoning television career under his belt, Olly Murs has carved out a niche as the boy-next-door-done good. Since being runner-up in the X-Factor in 2009, Murs is already on his second album and has

  • Pensioner dies after four-car collision on A31

    A PENSIONER has died after a four-car crash on the A31 at Ringwood last night. The man in his 70s, who was driving a Daihatsu, was seriously injured in the collision on the A31 near Ringwood, and was later pronounced dead. No one in

  • Wimborne Cemetery wins rates fight battle

    WIMBORNE Cemetery has scored a landmark victory in a two-year battle against a 150 per cent rise in its rates. Thousands of chapels across the country could escape similarly steep costs after the cemetery won an appeal based on an historic

  • Non-league: City slickers stave off Poppies revival

    BOURNEMOUTH Poppies suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of league leaders Winchester City on Tuesday – but not before they had come close to staging an unlikely comeback at Victoria Park. The visitors had a two-goal lead at the break and looked firmly

  • Swimming: Martin's forging a Ponds bond

    MARTIN Bleaken booked his ticket to this summer’s national youth championships after storming into a final at the British University and College Championships (BUCS) in Sheffield. The Bournemouth University student first came 10th in the men’s 100m butterfly

  • Swimming: Littledown hosts the county championships

    MORE Than 400 swimmers from 12 clubs will turn Bournemouth’s Littledown Centre into a cauldron of energy and excitement over the next two weekends as they take part in one of the highlights of the county swimming year. Swim Bournemouth,

  • Swimming: Weymouth win just the ticket for Poole

    POOLE snatched victory from the jaws of second place to go to the top of the Dorset Novice League following a second round thriller at Weymouth. They now go into next month’s final at Littledown as the only unbeaten team, making them favourites

  • Cherries: Kamara's key for success in play-offs

    PROMOTION-winning boss Chris Kamara has told Lee Bradbury that his man-management skills could hold the key to Cherries’ play-off dream. Popular pundit Kamara knows exactly what it takes to guide a team to Wembley play-off glory – because he

  • Cherries: Decision not to sell vindicated says Eddie

    CHAIRMAN Eddie Mitchell insists AFC Bournemouth is in the right hands and maintains his decision not to sell the club in 2010 has been vindicated. Mitchell was speaking in a week when British football was rocked by the news two prominent clubs – Portsmouth

  • Non-league: Chudy delivers a double for Hammers

    LEE Chudy finally broke his goal duck after netting twice in Hamworthy United’s 4-1 win over Horndean at Five Heads Park on Tuesday. Striker Chudy scored either side of half-time, his double sandwiched between Sam Lanahan’s opener and a Steve Whitcher

  • Cherries: Loan success fuels Stockley ambitions

    TEENAGER Jayden Stock-ley believes he is ready for his first-team examination with Cherries after coming of age during a loan spell with Accrington Stanley. The 18-year-old gained valuable experience during a two-month stay with the League Two outfit