Archive

  • Christchurch's new police inspector sets out his plans

    THE safety of Christchurch residents will be in fresh hands as a new inspector arrives at Christchurch Police Station. Inspector Lance Cliff will take over the from Insp Andy Earley, who will now be tasked with developing links at Bournemouth

  • High jinks as Highcliffe high street reopens!

    THE clouds may have been grey and heavy but celebrations went ahead in Highcliffe on Saturday. A fun day, organised by the village’s business association to re-launch the main shopping area after weeks of road works, saw local people brave the elements

  • Dancer who claimed benefits to be tagged

    A DANCER who claimed more than £2,000 in benefits while she was working at a Dorset lap-dancing club has been sentenced to a three-month community order by magistrates. Kimberley Robbins, 25, of Setley Gardens, Throop, Bournemouth, admitted

  • Crossing action call for Mudeford school

    CONCERNED parents and local residents have signed a petition calling for better safety measures for children crossing the road to Mudeford Junior School. More than 300 people put pen to paper voicing their concerns about the current facilities in place

  • Protesters suspicious of latest New Forest plans

    A PROTEST group set up to oppose the controversial blueprints for the New Forest has expressed concerns over new plans. The New Forest National Park Authority scrapped proposals for road tolls, dog-free car Parks and tighter restrictions

  • Bournemouth and Poole's rising tide of bankruptcies

    POOLE and Bournemouth boast two of the highest levels of bankruptcy for any UK town or city, the latest shock study has revealed. Figures show Poole has an unenviable 22.4 bankruptcies per 10,000 adults, the third highest rate of Britain’s

  • They’re bang out of order

    YOU know that awful feeling when you realise you’re banging your head against a brick wall and nobody’s listening? I don’t want fireworks banned, I just want to do something to restrict their use outside the public fireworks display arenas.

  • Poole youths to get a say on their image in media

    YOUNG people in Poole will be making their views known at a youth conference tackling issues ranging from identity to representation in the media. Members of Poole Youth Forum have organised Voice it, The Youth Conference, being held at Lighthouse

  • Bench marks a young life cut tragically short

    A BENCH to commemorate the life of a little boy from Blandford cut tragically short has been unveiled in the town’s Woodhouse Gardens. The memorial to two-year-old Ryan Franklin, killed by his father in 2002, was unveiled by North Dorset MP Bob Walter

  • What makes your blood boil?

    CALL centres, bad manners, lack of respect – what makes you angry? We all have our little moans and groans, but there is guaranteed to be one thing in particular that makes our blood boil. Most of us blame bad manners for making us see red,

  • Cherries: Virus puts paid to Roach's hopes

    JOE Roach was left to rue an unwanted hat-trick as Cherries suffered a 4-2 defeat at the hands of Youth Alliance rivals Bristol Rovers on Saturday. Roach’s injury-hit charges headed to the AXA Sports Ground in Filton looking to leapfrog

  • Joe Bonamassa announces BIC show

    WITH his trademark mix of ’60s-era British blues-rock and roots-influenced Delta sounds, Joe Bonamassa is emerging as one of the world’s greatest – and hardest-working – guitar players. Averaging some 200 shows a year, he has announced a date at the

  • Luke's leading role in TX cup win

    JAMES Vallory, Dave Cox and Ellis Higgs netted for Redhill in the second round of the Mark Hart Sunday Senior Cup but TX United had the upper hand 5-3 thanks to Luke Homer (2), Mark McManus, Neil Pidgley and an own goal. AFC Burns Lettings

  • Dan's double repairs Railway's reputation

    BRANKSOME Railway were rocked by the resignations of long-serving co-managers Steve Wood and Steve Manuel following last week’s shock MA Hart Robbins Cup defeat against New Star United. With Sean Read stepping into the breach as temporary player-manager

  • Pennington up to the cup challenge

    CRAIG Light and Matt Molloy netted for Brockenhurst Reserves but the Wessex Combination One side bowed out of the M A Hart Poole Bay Challenge Cup in the first round when Dominic Powers, Stuart Sims and Peter Hurford gave Pennington St Marks the verdict

  • Bournemouth author broadcast on Radio Four

    A book by an elderly lady from Bournemouth has been broadcast on a national radio station. Part one of “Goodbye Mr Bigelow” – a collection of letters written by former secretary Frances Woodsford to American widower Paul Bigelow between 1949 and 1961

  • This Week's Image - The Witch's Grave

    Elephant Words are the ways in which we describe or interpret the same thing in different ways. Elephant Words is a burst-culture website, featuring daily flash-fiction. Each Sunday, an image is posted. Over the following week, each of six authors

  • "Why we should give Boscombe surf reef time to prove itself"

    Over the last few months there has been a good deal of critisism of the Boscombe surf reef and many local residents have expressed an opinion, most of which seem to be based on an incorrect understanding of the reef's capability and potential.

  • Takeaway from the Wimborne Views Chinese Restaurant, Wimborne

    A WEEK too hectic to describe meant the countdown to this particular Friday night takeaway was more than usually flavoured with anticipation. And being world-weary types who have eaten far too many takeaways, we inevitably didn’t pitch our expectations

  • Fish and Visitors

    Benjamin Franklin once said “Fish and visitors stink after three days”. I would agree with that. I have just had my aged, spinster cousin to stay for two weeks. I usually have her to stay two or three times a year “for a week” which invariably organically

  • Eating out at The Bailey Bridge, Christchurch

    SITTING right on the busy Barrack Road and attached to a Premier Inn, the Bailey Bridge wouldn’t necessarily be your first choice for a meal out. But you could do a lot worse than give it a try. Recently taken over by the Table, Table

  • Talentcall winner's unexpected triumph at Bournemouth final

    YOU could have heard a pin drop, singer Anthony Hughes said of his winning performance at the grand final of this year’s Talentcall competition. The audience’s silence while he sang Kiss the Air by Scott Allen was only broken at the end by rapturous

  • Carbonara of Smoked Salmon or Trout - serves 4

    225g cold-smoked salmon or trout 350g spaghetti 50g butter 2 garlic cloves, peeled and bruised 4 tbsp dry white wine 3 large eggs 75g freshly grated Parmesan 3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley Salt and freshly ground pepper Cut

  • Pumpkin recipes for Halloween

    It’s Halloween this Saturday and to mark this spooky pagan festival, why not get into the kitchen and rustle up some freaky food? No Halloween is quite the same without a scary face carved out of a pumpkin, but what do you do with the unwanted

  • Don't turn right at Malaga!

    “Most people who land in Malaga turn right here,” says my taxi driver, as we fork left towards the city. “They don’t bother with Malaga.” Shame, because were most holidaymakers less concerned with jostling over their square metre of sand further

  • Last Week at Elephant Words

    Last week on Elephant Words, Cynthia Lugo posted that photo up there, taken by Kevin McShane. Over the following six days, six writers took turns to write pieces inspired by it. Those pieces were as varied as the writers writing them. Here

  • Danyl? In the bottom two?

    IT’S all Robbie Williams’s fault really. If the wide-eyed ex-Take Thatter hadn’t released Swing While You’re Winning to massive acclaim just before the first Pop Idol, we might never have had Big Band Week. Whether that’s a good or bad thing

  • A response to my critics

    I have deliberately shied away from posting any responses to comments made to my blogs or making my own comments to letters or articles, but having spent a week off the bike with a cold - yes I do feel like a wimp and can't wait to get back in the saddle

  • Fun despite the rain at wood fair

    MORE than 6,000 people attended a two-day wood fair to learn about and celebrate woodlands and heritage. Run by the Cranborne Chase and West Wiltshire Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the fun family day out also demonstrated a wide range of

  • Westlife covering Daughtry? The cheek of it!

    I'LL be honest, by 10pm Saturday night I was thinking this week's X Factor had been a bit dull. Even Jedward singing "I'm just a link in your daisy chain" while cavorting with a semi-clad dancer didn't make me cringe as much as last week's

  • Swing low

    So, Big Band Night. On the face of it, a brave piece of programming. Almost Reithian in its "let’s introduce the masses to music they’ve never heard before" chutzpah. Right up to the part where Simon decides it’s all a bit much for us prols

  • In the pink

    IT’S all too easy to have strong views about whether or not a “gay” lifestyle fits in with Christianity – that is, until you meet and talk with Christians who are gay. Rev Dwayne Morgan from the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) in Bournemouth invited

  • Wonder of Dorset captured in new Daily Echo book

    CAPTURING all the vibrant beauty of Dorset’s stunning scenery, it is no wonder that a new Daily Echo-produced book is flying off the shelves already. Following the success of the best-selling Dorset Coast book last year, Dorset: A Photographic

  • GRAB A SPOON: is it lunch, dinner or tea?

    IT'S A long standing debate in our house. That meal you have in the middle of the day - is it lunch or dinner? To me, it's always been lunch. Tea is early evening, dinner if you're eating after 7pm. To the other half, lunch is dinner

  • Wimborne Food Festival boost for local goods

    EATING and drinking were celebrated in style during a packed weekend of events at the Daily-Echo backed Wimborne Food Festival. Saturday’s wet weather failed to dampen the enthusiasm of organisers who were determined that the show must go on

  • Fiesta of food at Bite the Lighthouse in Poole

    HUNDREDS packed Poole’s Lighthouse for a fiesta of food and the arts on Sunday. Celebrity chef Lesley Waters, of BBC’s Ready, Steady, Cook, opened the event – called Bite the Lighthouse – and was among the foodies giving demonstrations throughout

  • Homeless New Forest family 'living like animals'

    WE are being forced to live like animals. That’s the claim made by a homeless family of six who are struggling to cope in two tiny caravans at East Boldre in the New Forest. The family, including three children, are living in impossibly cramped conditions

  • Dorset launches poppy appeal

    RESIDENTS across Dorset defied the wind and rain on Saturday, turning out to launch this year’s Poppy Appeal. Historic military vehicles were stationed in the square at Wimborne while the Dorset Youth Marching Band made their way from the Royal

  • Town hall boss says illegal parking is 'a good thing'

    BOURNEMOUTH council’s Parking boss has told a resident who complained to him that parking on yellow lines could be good for road safety. Parking enforcement head Gerry Bolland claimed that illegal parking could be forcing drivers to slow down

  • Bournemouth arts heading for budget cutbacks

    MERGING Bournemouth’s arts, library and museum services with Poole’s; cutting back on cemetery maintenance; and raising fees for cremations and weddings. All have been ranked as among the least unacceptable of a range of cost-cutting measures

  • Clean it up now!

    Do the pavements, walls and passages between buildings in Old Christchurch Road ever get cleaned? There are one or two exceptions of course but many frontages do not appear to have been cleaned for years. The restaurants look very inviting inside

  • Don’t let animals suffer in strikes

    I am appealing for all pet lovers and PDSA supporters to maintain their fantastic backing for pets in need, despite the current round of postal strikes. As the UK’s leading veterinary charity, we provides free care for pets of people in need, through

  • Standing up for respect?

    HEADMASTER Kevin Harrison sounds like my kind of no-nonsense bloke. As the new head of Macclesfield High, he’s reinstated the rule that pupils get to their feet when he enters the classroom. Most of us over 40 will nod in agreement. That’s what we had

  • Plaque guide plea

    In the year 2000, more than 40 blue plaques were put up in and around Christchurch town centre as part of the Millenium Trail. Sadly, and rather annoyingly, the leaflet produced as a guide to the trail is no longer available. Is there anybody with a

  • Would lights help danger junction?

    I wonder if any other readers find the road junction near the Nuffield Hospital in Lansdowne Road a nightmare when approaching from Beechey Road or Cavendish Road? If it isn’t already an accident blackspot I fear it will not be too long before it becomes

  • Appeal of the Poppy Appeal

    WELL, I suppose there were a lot of lives sacrificed in the overthrow of the Galactic Empire, weren’t there? The choice of volunteers dressed as Star Wars characters to accompany the Mayor of Poole to launch the town’s Poppy Appeal did seem

  • Clampdown on wild youths of Rossmore

    ANTI-social and criminal behaviour by a gang of wild youths has prompted Police to extend a crackdown in the Rossmore area of Poole. The news comes just days after the Daily Echo reported a new craze among youths of carrying chairs on their

  • Cost not the issue in DNA test row

    Following your front page story We can’t afford DNA test (Daily Echo, October 20) – concerning the assault on Priya Francome Wood, I wish to clarify important facts about this case. I would like to reassure your readers that we investigate crimes with

  • Trust us to support you

    I would like to make a special appeal to any readers who have secured their own place in the recent ballot for the 2010 Virgin London Marathon to consider running for the Children’s Trust, a national charity which provides specialist care for some of

  • Turning deaf ear to noise agony

    The recent case in the national press of a man driven to vandalise a faulty house alarm after the noise became unbearable has led me to write to you about the total lack of support for victims of noise nuisance in the Bournemouth area. Having been a

  • Driven dotty by white line fever

    I am confused as to why we are seeing such an extreme case of white lines (solid and dotted) along the Sandbanks peninsula. The purpose appears to allow a specific lane for cyclists on this road, removing a large number of car parking spaces to accommodate

  • Cherries: Alan's place is his to lose says Howe

    EDDIE Howe has thrown down the gauntlet to Alan Connell by telling the Cherries striker: “Keep scoring and you’ll keep your place.” Connell reopened his Cherries league goal account by paving the way for Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Grimsby

  • Cherries: Draw could have been worse

    TIMES were when we would all crowd around the wireless on a Monday lunchtime in eager anticipation of the FA Cup draw. Bovril and bread and dripping were the order of the day as supporters up and down the country listened intently to Ted Croker

  • Pirates: Middlo impressed with trial pair

    NEIL Middleditch has labelled Pirates trialists Artur Mroczka and Matej Kus as “crowd pleasers” who would both be good additions at Poole next season. The Elite League club’s team manager also had words of encouragement for Dawid Lampart, who also rode