AROUND 30 fire fighters tackled a ferocious blaze in Hamworthy this evening. Four crews from Wareham, Hamworthy, Poole and Wimborne, as well as four Land Rovers often used for heath fires, were called to Ham Common. At its height, an area of land approximately
A RECYCLING site condemned as an "eye-sore" because of fly-tipping is set to close. The Dorset Waste Partnership (DWP) will remove its ‘bring-banks’ on Avon Causeway on August 1 in response to concerns the site has become an unsightly dumping ground.
A FESTIVAL celebrating Bournemouth’s gay community is expected to be bigger than ever. The three-day Bourne Free event is now in its ninth year and will include a free family evening tomorrow, celebrity acts on Saturday and a get-together and church
A POOLE fisherman has been rescued after his boat sank 10-miles south west of the Isle of Wight. Solent Coastguard received a mayday call from the vessel, believed to be the Forget-Me-Not, just before 10.40am on Thursday, reporting that he was
A FLAT in Bournemouth has been shut down for being a drugs house. A closure order was issued at the flat in Lowther Road in Charminster by magistrates after complaints about drug-related activity and anti-social behaviour at the property. Police
A PURBECK art student is thrilled after her work was chosen to be displayed at Discovery Channel’s European headquarters. Mimi Winsor, who was born and bred in Swanage, recently graduated with first class honours from Chelsea College of Art and
JUST two months after ground work started on a major regeneration scheme on the site of the council-owned Madeira Road West car-park, work is well under way. Motorists travelling along the Bournemouth Spur Road have the best views of the huge metal
CHINESE water officials quizzed Dorset County Council on its flood management programme last week. The senior managers from China’s south west region visited to find out how the council manage the risk of flooding and cope with after-effects.
A TEAM of medical experts will be taking to Sandbanks beach in Poole later this month to give out advice and offer free skin cancer checks. Specialists from Poole and Christchurch Hospitals’ derma-tology units are hoping to boost awareness of the
THE chance to see one of the greatest football teams in the world play Real Madrid was too tempting for hundreds of die-hard Cherries fans, who queued through the night at Dean Court to secure tickets for the season's hottest match. Some families
Please note, this story is from July. You can find all the details of the schedule at bournemouthecho.co.uk/air - including details of the Vulcan's one appearance. The full line up for the 2013 Bournemouth Air Festival has been announced - but
BIG Belly solar-powered bins have been installed in Boscombe this week as part of the ongoing regeneration project. Ten solar waste-compactors were introduced in Boscombe Precinct on Monday with the capacity to store up to eight times more waste
A NEW MILTON man has received a suspended prison sentence after being convicted of two charges of attacking his wife. Michael Andrews, 54, from Marryat Road, had denied assaulting Patricia Andrews, by beating, on January 8 and February 11 this
SUPERFAST broadband will come to thousands more homes and businesses in Dorset under a £31.75million deal announced yesterday. Dorset County Council and BT have signed the agreement to bring high-speed fibre optic broadband to 97 per cent of premises
PARENT Shelley Serjeant said: “We chose the school because it is the friendliest and has the best set of core values for the children. Academically it is brilliant but they also have spiritual awareness and get all the skills they need to survive in
A FEELING of nostalgia crept over me as I walked towards the welcoming blue front door at Ringwood CE Infants School. Situated on a narrow road near the town centre, the school looks old-fashioned and a far cry from some of the stark, modern school
THE NHS is asking for opinions on two proposals aimed at drasticalyly increasing the number of organs available for donations in the UK. It wants to look at removing a family's pwer to override the wishes of an organ donor after they have died
A BOURNEMOUTH councillor has insisted that every parking space lost to new development in Bournemouth will be replaced. Cllr Michael Filer’s pledge comes after a weekend of parking madness with an unusually high demand for spaces, fuelled by hot
BOURNEMOUTH Air Festival’s future is guaranteed following the announcement of a major new sponsorship deal. Specially invited guests, including the Mayor, Councillor Rod Cooper, toasted the welcome news during a patrons’ evening at the cliff-top
'EastEnders' bosses have forked out £1 million on a stunt which will see Phil Mitchell end up in a coma. The BBC One soap's bad boy - who is played by Steve McFadden - will be thrown through a car windscreen and left fighting for his life after
Miranda Hart is to film a Christmas fitness DVD. The funnywoman is set to create a comical version of the traditional workout tapes - which have been made by a string of TV stars in the past such as Davina McCall, Natalie Cassidy and Josie Gibson
John Mayer surprised a fan by purchasing her dream guitar for her. The 'Free Fallin'' singer and girlfriend Katy Perry popped into a guitar shop in Soho, New York, last Friday and after spotting 16-year-old Julie Fermin admiring the expensive instrument
BOURNEMOUTH’S first Free School is getting ready to open in September after receiving its funding agreement from Education Secretary Michael Gove. Parkfield School will be housed in temporary accommodation in a former office block in the town centre
BANISH child poverty – that was the message from Year 6 of Hamworthy Middle School. The 10 and 11 year-olds from the Poole school identified and researched their own campaign as part of the Go Givers, Make a Difference challenge. “We narrowed
A MAN suffered a broken nose after an alleged attack in Boscombe. Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident, when a group of men allegedly assaulted two other men and stole a wallet from one of the victim at 10.30pm on May 25 near Fishtales
VOLUNTEER Scout leaders who treated casualties in the wake of a serious car crash have been honoured for their bravery. Andy Young, Nigel Turton, Anthony Brown and Rob Easton were set to leave the 1st Woodcutts Scout Group’s HQ in Sixpenny Handley
TEAMS of fundraisers are gearing up to make a splash for charity, in this year’s Chinese Dragon Boat Race. The event takes place on Poole Park lake between 10am and 4pm on Sunday to raise much-needed funds for Dorset disability charity Diverse
A WITNESS has told how he attempted to help the victims when he was first on the scene of a horror crash. Truck driver Paul Smith pulled a couple in their 80s from the wreckage of their motorhome before going to the aid of two pensioners trapped
THE AUDIENCE is lured into a captivating dream world of Parisian bohemia in this intense and energetic revival of a Puccini classic. Barely 75 minutes long, the collection of young singers from the Dutch National Touring Opera, present a reduced 'pocket
The South West Trains - Network Rail Alliance has opened a new, state of the art paint depot in Bournemouth, creating 38 new jobs. The £3.5 million paint facility, which is based in Westbourne, is the most advanced in Britain. It has been renovated
WHO says we don’t like good news? Today, there’s yet more. A major new sponsorship deal has been signed guaranteeing the future of the hugely successful Bournemouth Air Festival. CityFibre have committed to the event long term. This year it
IT was a delight on Saturday July 7 to walk up to Ashley Road and see a large sun canopy on the pavement outside a cafe with a table and couple chairs. I thought at last – some pavement cafe life in Ashley Road. Well I was not exactly right, but
WE spent an enjoyable day at the beach yesterday along with thousands of others. However it was spoiled by the lack of available deck chairs and umbrellas. Bournemouth council is missing a great opportunity of making revenue by purchasing sun beds
IF there is any evidence that proves the night-time economy is booming it was this Monday morning at 7.40. I was walking along Commercial Road when I was absolutely staggered at the amount of litter flowing over the road, not only this but I noticed
EVERYONE talks about the benefits of bringing tourists to Bournemouth. Having walked along the seafront on Sunday July 7 to see all the bagged-up rubbish that the council have collected from the beach, I’d rather they stayed away. There was one
WHILST I admit to being a fully paid up grumpy old man I can also see that action achieves more than complaining. For this reason, West Cliff residents undertake litter picks even though the rubbish collected has usually come from visitors. Of
AROUND 170 touch rugby players took part in the annual ‘Oaks O2 Touch Festival’ in Bournemouth’s Meyrick Park. The event, organised by the Oakmeadians Rugby Football Club, championed touch rugby, a game growing in popularity locally. Touch
MPs should get a bumper pay rise of more than £6,000, the independent expenses watchdog is recommending. The Independent Parliamentary Standards authority (Ipsa) says that MPs' pay should increase to £74,000 a year, while certain perks should be
A DAY-OUT at a Bournemouth beach ended in agony for several swimmers when they were stung by weever fish buried in the sand. Southbourne Surf Life Saving Club chairman Bill Ezekiel told the Daily Echo how volunteers have given first-aid to eight
THERE are reports of a "shed load of onions" across the A31 this morning. Some traffic feeds are reporting the onions are partially blocking the eastbound carriageway of the A31 at Picket Post near Ringwood. But a spokesperson for Hampshire
CHERRIES have this morning confirmed the signing of lively front-runner Mohamed Coulibaly on a two-year deal from Swiss club Grasshoppers. As predicted by the Daily Echo yesterday, 24-year-old Coulibaly will become Cherries’ third summer signing
A WOMAN suffered a broken back and her horse was killed after a horrific collision with a van in the New Forest. Cheryl Kirkhope, from Ferndown was returning from a ride with six-year-old mare American Sunset on Saturday afternoon when the green
POLICE are hunting a robber who pushed a man to the ground and stole his laptop and iPhone in Westbourne. The incident took place around 11pm on Monday July 8 along the junction of Tregonwell Road and Cranborne Road. The victim, a 32-year-old
The merger of the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Poole Hospital Trusts would result in a loss of choice for patients across “a large number of overlapping services,” the Competition Commission has said today. In a provisional report published at
CHERRIES’ proposed move for striker Simeon Jackson was last night dramatically hijacked at the 11th hour by little-known German club Eintracht Braunschweig. Jackson was understood to have been one of boss Eddie Howe’s main targets with Cherries
ONLOOKERS thought they were seeing double when two silver Audis crashed on a Purbeck road at lunchtime yesterday. Traffic on Kings Road West in Swanage ground to a halt at around 1.10pm after one Audi ended up on top of another convertible model
ASSISTANT-BOSS Jason Tindall believes Mohamed Coulibaly can be Cherries' flexible friend after securing the unknown quantity on a two-year deal. Little-known livewire Coulibaly, 24, today completed his transfer from Grasshoppers after impressing
