SAVE our play park. That's the message from dozens of locals who are opposing plans to shut a play area at Strouden Field, Queen’s Park, Bournemouth. On Saturday, around 50 people turned up to sign letters of objection as a campaign gathered
Hundreds of new homes are to be built in the New Forest to ease the area’s housing crisis. Planners are meeting next week to approve one of the biggest housing projects undertaken by the authority. The council aims to provide at least
A GROUP of school children have been awarded a prize for promoting Shakespeare. The Year 6 pupils from Branksome Heath Middle School in Parkstone have been told they are the first primary school children ever to win a marketing prize in
THE winner of a Young Musician Competition has donated her prize to charity. Olivia Parham, 16, from Canford School, won a £100 HMV voucher in the Rotary Wessex Young Musician competition held in Winchester. Olivia, who plays the flute
CONCERNS have been raised over proposals for a new vicarage in the garden of the vacant parish home in Christchurch. The extensive plans, which were submitted just before Christmas, will not go before planning committee at Christchurch Borough
A two-year project to survey alleys and lanes across Poole has resulted in a useful town walking map. The Rotary Club of Poole Bay identified 185 rights of way across the town centre and old town areas. Members have now produced a map
A COUPLE who run an amazing miniature railway around their Poole home have raised more than £8,500 for the Youth Cancer Trust. Throughout 2011, they have brought the total raised for charity in the lifetime of the railway to more than £50,000. Richard
A Bournemouth University student has launched the ‘African iPad’. Nigerian Saheed Adepoju studied the Advanced Computing Masters Degree at Bournemouth University. He is the founder of the Encipher Group, a technology company that launched
A BOURNEMOUTH food bank has doubled the number of food parcels it is handing out to “desperate” residents. Volunteers at the Charminster-based Bournemouth Food Bank are now handing out around a tonne of food a week – helping up to 80 people
LADIES in need of a good pampering can enjoy beauty treatments and nibbles at a Christchurch fundraising event. Christchurch Infants School is holding a Pamper Evening at the school in Addiscombe Road from 7pm to 9.30pm on Wednesday, March
PUPILS at a Poole school serenaded their parents at a special afternoon performance. Branksome Heath Middle School in Parkstone organised a Spring Sing and is working towards an award from the National Sing Up organisation. Teacher Natasha
TWO people from Bournemouth have been shortlisted for Climate Week Awards. As reported, Rabbi Neil Amswych has been nominated for Most Inspirational Leader in the awards, for Idea: Interfaith Dorset Education, an initiative on climate change
A POOLE school’s £15million transformation has taken another leap forward with a topping out ceremony and burial of a time capsule. Last November Mayor of Poole Councillor Graham Wilson saw foundations laid at Ashdown Technology College, Canford
YOUNG folk hero Seth Lakeman will be bringing his unique brand of music to The Old Firestation, Bournemouth on March 20. The gig is part of his promotional tour for his latest album Tales From The Barrel House. It is the first to be released on Seth
FASCINATING images of children’s festivals held in Bournemouth more than 100 years ago have emerged as plans get under way for a similar event this summer. Organisers of the Bournemouth Family Festival 2012 hope pictures of young people enjoying activity
DETECTIVES are appealing for witnesses to come forward after a man allegedly assaulted a police officer in Blandford. The alleged incident happened outside Blandford Post Office along The Close at around 2.30pm on Tuesday February 28 when a male police
FOR 10 years, a plethora of Plonkers has left music fans thinking they were seeing double. The Plonkers Agricultural Orchestra and a rival outfit with a similar name have been competing for fans – often at the same venues. The two “scrumpy
THE full scale of the scandal of missing post can be revealed today. The Daily Echo has been inundated with calls from local people after our story of Tallulah Halls whose granddad had sent her £50 as a birthday treat, and it had been taken
A DISABLED woman who has lost an arm has been left helpless after falling over a concealed piece of wood and breaking the other arm on her way home from work. Grandmother Zena Street, who suffers from osteoporosis, says the wooden marker was
MARTIN Cook’s teenage son, Daniel, had a birthday card arrive on the day of his 17th birthday in January in a sealed Royal Mail bag to say that it had been damaged. Martin, 47, said: “My brother, Ian, sent Daniel the card from Birmingham and
ROYAL Mail has urged anyone who has lost money or items in the post to contact them so the matter can be fully investigated. Mike Norman, Royal Mail spokesperson, said: “Nationally, Royal Mail delivers around 59 million items of mail on a typical working
JUST how do people identify cash in greetings cards, and is it possible to prevent your money being stolen? Those who have been caught stealing in the past admit to targeting cards addressed to “Miss” or “Master” as they are more likely to be children
THE fight to save the Portland Coastguard Helicopter service is not over for MP Richard Drax, who has written to the Transport Secretary over the decision to axe it. As reported in the Echo, MP Justine Greening dealt a devastating blow to
THOUSANDS of runners are expected to pack out Poole Park this May for the 31st Festival of Running. The event, a firm favourite on the town’s sporting calendar, has raised tens of thousands of pounds for local charities over the past three
SHOPPERS were evacuated from the Sovereign Centre in Boscombe this morning due to a fire. A spokesperson from Dorset Fire and Rescue Service said an electrical sign from a shop had caught fire and shoppers at the premises were evacuated.
POOLE residents are being warned to be on their guard against opportunist thieves and rogue traders taking advantage of the digital TV switchover. The first stage of the switchover comes to Poole and Bournemouth on Wednesday when the old analogue
POLICE in Poole are appealing for witnesses and anyone with information to come forward after a teenager was robbed in Broadstone. The incident, in which a 17-year-old boy was chased by a group of men along Higher Blandford Road and attacked in nearby
A PAIR of inventive graduates who both planned to pay off their student debts by carrying adverts painted on their faces have seen their idea snowball. First featured in the Daily Echo in September last year, Ed Moyse, from Poole, and Ross Harper, from
A PASSENGER said a bus driver ordered his vehicle to be cleared after a lady spilt some coffee in a case of “health and safety gone mad”. Robert Readman from Bournemouth was trying to board the Wilts and Dorset M2 service near Iceland in Westbourne
CONCERNING your report of a baby boom in Poole, surely this is the last thing we need? The effects of the present over-population are so obvious; the roads are choked with carcinogenic traffic fumes and the countryside is vanishing through the need to
JOHN R Cole states other reporters will no doubt give a very different side of the saga. He is correct. I was invited as a guest to the opening and I was very proud to be there. It was a very historic day and conducted in a well organised walk to
YOU have to give Britain’s army of con artists credit for one thing. They know a business opportunity when they see one. The first stage of the digital switchover comes to Poole and Bournemouth tomorrow, when the analogue signal that has served
COMPUTER hackers may be behind the collapse of the RNLI’s website at the weekend. The site, which fills a vital role in raising money for the volunteer organisation, crashed on Saturday with users reporting intermittent services throughout
I WAS pleased to see the recent article re the dog mess on our streets. I live on the corner of Hastings Road and Barrow Road and the mess on the pavements around this corner is an absolute disgrace. From 7am to the evening, it is a fairly continuous
I AM writing to you about the Dolphin Centre car park. Your readers may not be aware of the ‘six o’clock’ trap. If, like my sister and her partner, you park your car at 17.53 and leave at 18.38, you will find that rather than the £1.60 minimum charge
YES, indeed let’s not re-write history (letter from Cllr Brian Clements, March 2). Suffice to say, when Glenda Jackson (then a Labour minister for transport) came to Poole following the removal of the high-level bridge from their roads programme, she
I must take issue with John Coles, who described the opening of the Twin Sails Bridge on Saturday February 25 as ‘a bit of a farce’ (Have Your Say, March 1). I was one of many from the Rotary Clubs of Poole selling certificates for charity confirming
NATHAN JAMES WOODWARD, aged 38, of Wake Way, Northampton. Admitted driving a Vauxhall Vectra above 70mph on A35 Tolpuddle bypass. Fined £360, victim surcharge £15, costs £35. Licence endorsed with six points. JOHN PATRICK SIDNEY DOWER, aged 49, Sandbeck
JAMES BROWN aged 32 of Harford Road, Parkstone, Poole. Admitted assault by beating. Community order to participate in Integrated Domestic Abuse Programme at Poole Probation Centre. Comepsnation £100. LAURA CLAIRE HAYWARD aged 18 of Sandpiper Close,
WILLIAM NEIL HAMMERSLEY, aged 36, of Kingsbridge Road, Newbury. Admitted failing to stop for red light at A360 Castle Lane East at junction with Deansleigh Road. Fined £95, victim surcharge £15, costs £35. Licence endorsed with three points.
TWO people were taken to hospital with serious injuries after a head-on collision in North Dorset on Monday evening. The collision took place on the B3081 at Tollard Royal around 9.21pm. A 38-year-old man from Sixpenny Handley was driving a red Ford
POOLE Town’s Kevin Gill claims he was confronted post-match by Paulton Rovers midfielder Adam Mahdi and invited to “finish off” their on-pitch spat. Mahdi was sent off after lashing out at Gill following a clash between the pair towards the end of a
MANAGER Ken Vaughan admits Poppies must display more ambition if they are to regularly earn a prominent place on the footballing map. The Bournemouth outfit were founder members of the FA and Poppies are one of the oldest clubs in the country. But despite
BOSS Graham Kemp believes it is a fine achievement for a club of Christchurch’s stature to even be in the running for silverware this season. Kemp’s comments come as he aims to guide Priory into a second knockout final in the space of a week. Christchurch
BOURNEMOUTH Sunday League powerhouses Branksome Con have been kicked out of a prestigious cup competition after virtually their whole team was suspended. The reigning Premier Division champions had no fewer than 10 players banned when they were due to
BOSS Ken Vaughan accused players of having a bad attitude after revealing his FA Vase selection had caused upset in the Poppies ranks. Vaughan claimed un-named members of the Victoria Park squad had “lost it a little bit” after he had confirmed his team
