NINETEEN people are in custody after 250 police officers carried out a series of dawn drugs raids across the New Forest. The arrests – of 13 men and six women, all aged 21 to 55 – were made in a number of co-ordinated strikes at 6am yesterday
TRIBUTES have been paid to “true gentleman” Sir John Ward, the former MP for Poole and confidant of John Major during his time as Prime Minister. Sir John, who served as constituency MP from 1979 to 1997, died suddenly at his London home on
POLICE sealed off a large house yards from a Poole first school after discovering evidence of a possible gun shot. Detectives and forensics officers attended the Penn Hill property, opposite Lilliput First School, after a woman called police, concerned
THE finishing touches are being put to plans for hundreds of homes on the outskirts of Christchurch. Plans devised by the Regional Spatial Strategy to build nearly 600 properties on open space in Christchurch are in the process of being finalised despite
POLICE are hoping to crackdown on antisocial behaviour in Bournemouth and Poole during the summer by deploying three dedicated patrol cars to tackle the problem, focusing on Friday and Saturday nights. The move comes just days after Dorset’s Chief Constable
WITH all of their nearest challengers losing, Poole Park opened up a nine-point gap at the top of A Division. The Dolphins cruised to a 63-19 triumph over Iford Bridge, courtesy of Wendy Hardy, Pam Smith, Sandy Smith and Rosemary Spetch (36-10) who combined
COLOURFUL outfits and resplendent fancy dress costumes will parade through the streets of Burton on Saturday for the village’s annual scout carnival. Youngsters and members of the village scout and guide groups will be donning their colourful get-up
Southbourne proved their worth with a 10-4 victory over one of their main Section One contenders, Poole Park. Mike Newton, Bill Smith, Richard Poole and Brian Jones (22-12) played the kingpin role for the Towermen. And skip Alan Bliss made
BATTING stars Alex Kennedy and Tom Wilkinson fired for Bournemouth as they reaffirmed their title credentials. Beaten for the first time this season in their previous clash, the Division One championship favourites showed their determination to claim
IT takes courage to fly – even if you are a bird. Or so it seems judging by the Date With Nature footage on this website which, thanks to a Carnyx Wild video camera, has being showing the early lives of a pair of New Forest goshawk chicks, from freshly-hatched
FOUR-wheeled competition can be a complicated business, so news that Ringwood’s finest mechanics, information gurus, and legal minds are backing the town’s pedal car race has been welcomed by organisers. With the countdown to the Daily Echo-backed
TAKE a look at our Leisure section and you may have noticed we've had a bit of a move around! All the latest music, theatre and art news can now be found under What's On . We also now have just one Reviews section, where you can see
DORSET’S “happiness dogs” are officially fit for the Queen after winning an Award for Voluntary Service. Charity Caring Canines, set up in 2006, visits over 1,200 people a month in residential homes, day centres, hospices, hospitals and schools
EVERYONE’S buzzing about the new Harry Potter trailer, which has just been unleashed, and it’s not hard to see why! Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is J.K Rowling’s final book of the Harry Potter novels and finds Harry, Ron and Hermione
WE had an astonishingly high standard and range of pictures in May’s Flickr gallery, but given the weather this month, it’s maybe no suprise that Kasia Nowak has won with this stunning picture of Branksome beach. It’s Kasia’s second win
Am I in the UK still? Since returning from Kiel last Thursday we have had fantastic weather and I'm hoping it is going to stay for our next training session starting tomorrow in Weymouth. This weekend I had the chance to do some fleet racing for
Hot on the heels of construction work on Poole’s iconic second lifting bridge come revised plans to fill the space in between. Residents will be able to view new plans for a £100 million waterfront development in West Quay Road at a public
PLANS for a “substantial” expansion to a North Dorset abattoir have been withdrawn amid allegations of animal cruelty and the suspension of a supermarket contract. Sainsbury’s confirmed yesterday that it stopped selling meat slaughtered at
Burgers with Tarragon Mayonnaise Serves 4 Cooking time: 12-16 minutes 450g lean beef or lamb mince 1 small onion, peeled and grated 4tbsp prepared fruit pickle or chutney 1-2tbsp freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley Salt and freshly milled black
A WOMAN who developed a mystery rash believes it was caused by an allergic reaction to hairy caterpillars that have been spotted along Bournemouth’s cliffs. The Southbourne beach hut owner, who does not want to be named, saw her GP about the
On the very day that Geoffery Lindley saw a sign advertising jumbo and chips (Have Your Say, June 25) I saw a restaurant sign advertising half cooked lobster. Surely they should be cooked thoroughly to lessen the risk of food poisoning? Graham Cribb
In Have Your Say, 26th June, Tony Fowle congratulates the Con-Lib Dem coalition on their proposal to link the basic state pension to earnings which was “disgracefully withdrawn by Margaret Thatcher in 1980”. Tony – you and the older electorate have
I am confident that the people of Bournemouth and district will wish to turn out in strength to applaud The Rifles when they march through our town and receive the honour of the Freedom of the Borough on Sunday afternoon, July 25. Our presence will
A WOMAN has died after a flatbed truck and a Volkswagen Transporter were involved in a head-on collision on the A35 near Holmsley in the New Forest on Sunday evening. The 38-year-old woman driving the Lyndhurst-bound Renault flatbed suffered
I am disappointed in the reaction of a handful of councillors who have expressed outrage because our families have not been invited to the civic reception following the Freedom of the Borough ceremony for the Rifles. As per my email to all councillors
Yet again our councillors hit the headlines for all the wrong reasons. When will they get their heads around the fact that they are in their positions to do what’s best for us? The continual bickering between themselves and current investigations into
Bournemouth council has not exactly been covering itself in glory recently, but the latest unseemly bickering among councillors over tickets for the event to honour The Rifles is an absolute disgrace. Someone needs to grab the whole bunch by the scruff
Over forty years ago, my father served as a local town councillor. The role required a great deal of time, dedication and, in many cases, expense. When he became a senior councillor he took on a lot more responsibility and acted as chairman of
THIS was the dramatic scene confronting firefighters after a cliff-side inferno broke out overlooking Bournemouth beach. The blaze, with flames leaping more than 12 ft into the night sky, was visible for miles along the coast and prompted more
MORE than 250 New Forest police officers carried out early morning drugs raids in New Milton this morning. The teams of police officers executed 19 warrants across parts of the town, targeting those involved in the supply of class A controlled
Firstly can I say how glad I am that England are finally out of it – not that I have anything against England, it’s just that I would like my Daily Echo and my TV stations returned to me in a style reminiscent of pre FIFA World Cup. I have no problem
I believe many thousands of Echo readers will be totally appalled to read the front page of Saturdays Echo (Councillors squabble over reception invitation, Daily Echo, June 26) It seems that some councillors continue to forget what their elected role
THREE men caught a baby in a blanket when he was dropped 20ft from the window of a burning flat following an arson attack. The toddler was one of four terrified children trapped on the second-floor flat of a converted Bournemouth house.
YESTERDAY the government pledged to revive competitive sport in schools with an Olympics-style contest. Lottery cash will be used to fund tournaments in sports such as football, rugby, cricket, athletics, gymnastics, cycling, volleyball and judo. Schools
FIRST weeds and algae turned it a swampy Amazonian green. Now Poole Park lake has been dyed an inky shade of blue in the latest attempt to stem the rampant spread of unwelcome plantlife. The harmless vegetable-based dye was added after
A LEADING Bournemouth councillor suspended by the Tory party has spoken out to defend himself. The conduct of Cllr Douglas Spencer is being examined by the Board of the Conservative Party following a complaint from a member of the Bournemouth
ROCK Choir, the largest popular contemporary choir in the world with more than 4,500, mainly female, current members, will release their debut album, Volume 1, on Monday. The Choir, which is made up of members from all over the country whose voices are
THEY were just another South Coast band of ambitious, naïve, silly, talented, unlucky would-be rock stars who never quite got the breaks they deserved – or couldn’t make the most of the ones they did get. The names of hundreds of similarly
BOSS Eddie Howe believes Shaun Cooper has a major role to play next season after the versatile star pledged his future to Cherries. Howe also offered words of praise for Cooper’s professional approach to training and he is hoping that work ethic is rewarded
FORMER Cherries boss Harry Redknapp admitted he would be keen to manage England should Fabio Capello leave the post – and then received the backing of Dean Court chairman Eddie Mitchell. Redknapp is among the leading contenders to be the
ARTUR Mroczka admits fears about his Pirates future played a big part in his costly world under-21 semi-final mishap. The Pole stopped after only three of the regulation four laps in his last race at Landshut and his "human error" denied him two precious
CHRIS Cooke cracked a whirlwind 74 as he guided Bournemouth to a four-wicket win at South Wilts in the Southern Electric Twenty20 Cup second round. The South African, who is being monitored by County Championship big guns Glamorgan, top-scored for last
