LOYAL Cherries servant Stephen Purches admitted his testimonial standing ovation had brought “a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye”. Purches came on as a second-half substitute as Cherries and West Ham today did battle in an entertaining friendly
BOURNEMOUTH came to a standstill on Saturday lunchtime as the Bourne Free Pride parade whirled and danced its way through the town centre. Hundreds of spectators turned out to welcome the pride event with people lining the streets to catch sight
BOURNEMOUTH cyclists will be tripping the light fantastic when the sun goes down at this year’s Sky Ride. For the first time ever, the streets of Bournemouth town centre will close to motorists, while thousands of people light up for the Nightglow
HORSE riders in the New Forest are demanding action to reduce the risk of accidents involving cyclists. They are calling on organisers of cycling events to adopt a voluntary code of conduct in a bid to keep the roads safe. It follows growing
HEALTH professionals have voiced their concerns for local services after the Royal Bournemouth and Poole Hospital merger plan hit problems. The merger proposal, which has so far cost £6 million was referred to the Competition Commission earlier
SOUTH Dorset MP Richard Drax will take part in a sponsored walk to raise money for a local youth charity. Two representatives from IMPACT – Lorna Haines from Swanage, and Mike Cunnington from Christchurch – will join the MP for the walk from Swanage
IRRESPONSIBLE dog owners have been criticised for leaving their pets in boiling hot cars in Dorset over the last week. The RSPCA and Dorset Police have received countless calls since the beginning of July from worried members of the public.
A BOURNEMOUTH author and stamp-collector was thrilled to hear his first book was awarded the top prize in an international literature exhibition. Ashley Lawrence, 70, was given the Grand Award at New Zealand’s National Philatelic Literature Exhibition
POLICE want to speak to a driver who threatened another motorist in a road rage incident. The Ford Ka driver tailgated a Land Rover along the A337 Southampton Road, Lymington, before overtaking dangerously and braking. He then got out and walked
Eight schools in Poole and Bournemouth helped break a world record for the most people performing sign language simultaneously in different locations. Guinness World Records has confirmed the record set by national charity SignHealth with the sign2sing
BUILDERS, staff, students and parents celebrated yesterday as the last brick was laid following the rebuilding of a school in Parkstone. Children from Buckholme Towers School in Commercial Road cheered as builders from Jaytrack Ltd held the topping
TWO brothers are set to cycle nearly 160 miles in memory of their father. Stuart and Graham Kemp pledged to ride from Luton to Weymouth this weekend in aid of the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance after they discovered their late father Tony had
THE sun shone down over visitors to the first day of Asahi British Beach Polo Championships in Sandbanks yesterday. Now in its sixth year on the beach at Sandbanks, the beach polo aims to bring together a host of sport and music, with teams from
Ian Gibbs, head chef at the Kings Arms in Christchurch, has forged his career by working in some of the most respected establishments in the UK. Here is his take on an oriental favourite. Seared Asian salmon, stir-fried vegetables and crispy
There is an ill-conceived notion that transgender people are about playing dress-up. But to be trans is to be so consumed with the truth of who you are that you are willing to risk everything to inhabit it. For Jay Murray it was being prepared
A TERRIFIED woman was held hostage for hours in a Bournemouth “drug den” during a revenge attack over rent arrears. Bournemouth Crown Court heard how Zoe Mitchell was bound and gagged after being lured back to her former flat last December.
BOURNEMOUTH Air Festival has been thrilling the summer crowds for five years. To mark the occasion, the Daily Echo is publishing a book filled with stunning pictures of the action. Bournemouth Air Festival: A Photographic Celebration of the
BEFORE you chuck out your old gardening tools or that urn you inherited from your grandmother, check out their value because Jonty Hearnden, presenter of the BBC1 show Cash In The Attic, says you could be sitting on a goldmine. He reckons you may
With yet another wet and windy weekend looming, it didn’t seem like the best timing for a trip away. The windscreen wipers were going full pelt as we travelled the hour and 40 minutes to Sindlesham in Wokingham, Berkshire – the hotel destination
Bookseller’s choice of the week with Claire Bell from Waterstones in Poole Fabrizio Collini is a quiet and respectable Mercedes-Benz worker, who one morning walks into a luxurious Berlin hotel, kills a man brutally in cold blood then waits for
A COUPLE facing financial ruin after they were mis-sold a complex insurance product are still desperately waiting for the £350,000 refund that could save their business. Terri and Stewart Flett, who own the Hotel Piccadilly in Bournemouth, were
ALL the world’s a stage for open-air company Illyria as they stage Shakespeare’s riotous comedy As You Like It at the Sherborne’s Castle Gardens. The anarchic love story is widely considered to be one of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies and offers
THE LAST person alive to be painted by Picasso is showcasing her own work at an exhibition in Lytchett Matravers today. Local artist Dorothy Boyesen posed as the subject for Picasso’s priceless work ‘Mother and Son’ in 1958 when her baby Alex was
IT WAS a delight to spend a couple of hours enjoying a meal with my wife and three friends at a restaurant overlooking and adjacent to the Twin Sails Bridge at the weekend. It opened and closed three times with no problems to allow yachts and small
ACCORDING to the tinpot judges of the European Court of Human Rights, imprisoning a man or woman for life without hope of release is ‘cruel’ and ‘degrading’ and the UK has got to stop doing it. If being alive, having your meals cooked for you and
THE Internet Hall of Fame isn’t just about pioneers of online technology – it’s a statement of intent for the future. It’s likely that John Perry Barlow didn’t expect to become a member of the Internet Hall of Fame when he started writing rock
KT TUNSTALL has had a turbulent 12 months but now the singer is feeling rejuvenated and more relaxed than ever. So she should be ready to pull off a typically explosive appearance at the Larmer Tree Festival next weekend. Back at the start
IN 1972, two extra seconds were added to time to balance clocks and while this probably seemed insignificant to most, for 11-year-old school friends Byron and James, it’s a terrifying prospect. They believe messing with time will cause problems
IT promises to be a bumper weekend. Plenty of sunshine, packed beaches and another little mini-boom for the local economy. Every little helps, as they say. Hopefully there will no repeat of the various issues of last weekend when events came
PLEASE can I use your publication to say a massive thank you to a young gentleman. He not only returned the money that I had walked away from at the cashpoint at Westbourne Post Office on the night of Wednesday, July 10, but also went out of his
I TOTALLY agree that a workable ‘bus hub’ in Bournemouth has been too long coming. Before the fire at the bus station by the Central Gardens in 1976 I used to arrive at this destination and there was no doubt as to where you were or how you could
Dorset style expert and former beauty queen Katie Farley gives her tips for a beautiful summer Summer is finally here, hooray! And what a fantastic reason it is to replenish your beauty bags and make way for some of the best cosmetic creations
NIGHTCLUB consultant Richard Carr has insisted he is not public enemy number one and hit out at Dorset Police for “destroying” his reputation. Poole-based Mr Carr, who has had a string of businesses in Bournemouth and Poole over the last 25 years
NEIL Middleditch is backing Darcy Ward to continue reaping the rewards of a “more mature” approach as he prepares to boost Australia’s World Cup bid. Ward will feature as part of a Pirates-influenced Australian quartet for Event One of the shale
NEW Lions boss Budge Pountney has voiced a rallying cry to the region’s top rugby talent: Come and have a crack at the National League. The former Scotland captain is urging any players with ambitions of showcasing their skills at a higher level
CHAIRMAN Eddie Mitchell is confident Cherries can complete the new South Stand in time to issue a further 2,500 tickets for their historic match against Spanish giants Real Madrid. Some supporters queued through the night as all available tickets
