• Sam Spencer from Christchurch said: “I pay for 10 minutes twice a day to go and pick my children up. “The car parks should have barriers and you should just pay for how long you use.” • Mum Katie O’Connor said: “I do think the prices
CAR parking fees are to rise again throughout Christchurch despite concerns at some of the new prices. Councillors on the resources committee at Christchurch council unanimously approved the increases to car parks across the borough at a committee
Jurors at the Harry Redknapp tax evasion trial have been sent home for the day with deliberations to continue on Wednesday. The eight men and four women were warned to ignore footballing matters during their deliberations. Judge Anthony
A RECREATION ground which was used by generations of sports people could be lost to the community. The memorial field in Pitmore Lane, Sway, was given to the young men of the village in honour of the sacrifices made during the First World War
DORSET’S oldest animal charity has appointed a new fundraising manager – and he is asking for the public’s help to ensure abused animals get the loving homes they deserve. Robert Machon joins Margaret Green Animal Rescue after two years as
WORK has started on a multi-million-pound scheme to provide a specialist care centre for dementia sufferers. The former Linden House in New Street, Lymington, is being bulldozed to make way for the new complex that will create between 80 and
CAMPAIGNERS against a proposed travellers’ site for central Bournemouth are urging people to have their say as the first chance to comment comes to a close. Councils have been asked to come up with potential sites by the government, and Park
PLANS to merge two hospital trusts could improve the chances of survival for patients admitted at weekends. National figures suggest patients are 16 per cent more likely to die if they are admitted to hospital on a Sunday than on a Wednesday
“YOU’LL never win anything with kids,” the football pundit Alan Hansen once famously said. He was wrong. Hundreds of youngsters all over the Daily Echo’s circulation area, from North Dorset to Bournemouth and Ringwood to Poole, taste
A PARAMEDIC with an artistic flair has created a brand new cartoon helicopter logo for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance. Dave Hindson, from Broadstone, worked for the air ambulance when it was first set up 11 years ago, and was a paramedic for 30 years
SCIENTISTS at Bournemouth University have solved the mystery of the blue balls that fell into a garden. Steve Hornsby, 61, found the jelly-like balls scattered in the grass after a hailstorm. The 3cm-wide balls are almost certainly sodium
DORSET MPs have backed a campaign by their colleagues asking the Government to reconsider its support for wind farms. More than 100 Conservative backbenchers are rebelling against Downing Street’s backing of onshore turbines, along with a handful of
A GRIEVING mother is warning of the dangers of inhaling gas lighter fuel after hearing how fumes were suspected of causing her only child’s death. Computer specialist Richard Gurney was holding a fuel canister when he was found dead at his home in Hamworthy
THE first of a series of public meetings to be held over the proposed merger of two Dorset hospital trusts is to take place at 2pm tomorrow in Poole Hospital’s education centre. The Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals and Poole Hospital trusts
A WORRIED mum has called for action to keep school children safe at a notorious Bournemouth junction. Lauren King fears a child could be injured or killed as they try to cross busy Christchurch Road at its junction with Colemore Road and Exton
A COUPLE of months ago, Bournemouth enjoyed the presence of TV newsreader, Angela Rippon. Last Saturday, another celebrity newscaster and reporter, Jennie Bond, visited the Pavilion. Jennie Bond spent 14 years as the BBC’s Royal Correspondent and accompanied
POOLE’S annual swimathon has been hailed a huge success, despite a number of teams dropping out at the last minute. Seven teams were unable to meet the Saturday deadline for the start of the two-day event, but that didn’t stop the 85 teams
Jeff Stelling, Matthew Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Phil Thompson, Charlie Nicholas and Chris Kamara on Saturday afternoons on Sky Sports are unmissable for football fans across the UK. Now it is your chance to see the lads live, onstage in Bournemouth
IT may have been freezing outside, but those packed inside the Pavilion on Sunday were completely oblivious as Omid Djalili warmed us right up with his cheerful, good-natured and thought-provoking humour. Support act Boothby Graffoe got things moving
SOMETIMES the law can leave you with a dilemma. All parents want their children to go to the school of their choice and sometimes catchment areas and class numbers preclude that. But young mum Michelle Amey’s case is different. There has been a resurgence
A WOMAN hurt in a serious assault at Upton in Poole has been released from hospital. The 45-year-old Bournemouth woman suffered a head injury during the incident on a footpath off Sandy Lane at around 4.45pm on Friday. She was treated
DID you know Boscombe once had three stately homes or that in the 1920s a curse was cast on a theatre which dared to open on Sundays? These are among the historic titbits offered by retired businessman John Browne who, now a qualified tour
A mum with cancer is pleading with education chiefs to allow her two young sons to attend the same school. Michelle Amey, 35, can no longer drive after having brain surgery to remove a tumour and is battling with Dorset County Council to allow
A PHOTOGRAPHER from Bournemouth is due to give evidence to the phone-hacking scandal inquiry today. Neil Turner, who lives in Moordown, will address the Leveson Inquiry in his role as vice chairman of the British Press Photographers’ Association
I AM unhappy about housing in Poole. I am a 30-year-old man, who works full time and is getting married in September this year. My fiancee has a high level of learning disabilities and I am on a low disability. I went to the council for help getting
Regular readers may have noticed a slightly more sporadic nature to my blog entries recently. This is down to a number of reasons, one being the busy nature of modern life and that fact that it takes time to think about and write this blog every
I FEEL I must comment on your article ‘Golfers slam play area plan as ‘utter madness’’ (Echo, February 1). I would point out that the car park mentioned is for all users of Queens Park and not just for users of the golf course, as the article states.
SHOULD Bournemouth be a city? At this time it’s ridiculous. The councillors are too narrow and inwardly thinking. Any council who thinks putting sandbags in the sea would make a reef need educating. They have ‘expanded’ the boundaries, ie their university
IF my experience is anything to go by, we are now in the charity bag season, so please read the small print on the bag. Some say that all the proceeds go to the charity, some dispose of what the charities do not want, some give between £30-£50 per tonne
I HAD the need to do a lot of local driving on a particular day – six hours in total. So to relieve the mind-numbing sensation that this type of driving can cause, I decided to count the number of drivers using mobile phones as it is always
MEET the Birch family’s latest signing. This is baby Alfie Fletcher Charlie Birch or AFCB for short. Dad, Stuart, 34, and mum, Sharon, 26, welcomed baby Alfie on January 30, the day before the Cherries deadline for transfers. But the name for their
FURTHER to Michael Portillo’s visit to Poole station with regard to his Great British Railway Journeys TV programme following George Bradshaw’s 1840 railway guide book; last week, Dick and James Strawbridge Hungry Sailors programme visited and tied up
WHAT a wonderful band playing around the centre of Bournemouth last Sunday, it really was a crowd pleaser. Why can’t we have musicians like these playing in the Bournemouth Gardens during the summer months instead of those lacklustre outfits, which have
IN response to the Echo article on January 27 concerning the proposed ‘Taxi Tariff’ increases, I feel that I need to clarify a misunderstanding brought up in the article. The article states that the tariff increases apply only to ‘London style’ taxis
POLICE hunting a thug who robbed a 15-year-old boy of his mobile phone have released a CCTV image of a man they hope can help them with their investigation. The incident happened at around 7.10pm on Monday January 2 when a young man pushed
DRUNKEN students are hurling glass bottles from the windows of their university accommodation, it has been claimed. They also vomit and urinate in the street and cause high levels of litter, according to a worried security worker at halls of
A TRAUMATISED mother fled for her life clutching three cherished photographs of her children as the family watched the rest of their most prized possessions going up in smoke. The woman, who does not wish to be identified, hasn’t been able to sleep since
RESIDENTS who find it difficult to access ordinary buses will be riding on a new vehicle as part of the Christchurch Dial-a-Bus service. The scheme has now procured its first 17-seater accessible minibus with funds from the Big Lottery-administered
A principal has been appointed to head Bournemouth’s newest school. Terry Conaghan will take the lead at Parkfield New School when it opens its doors in September. Parkfield will be a free school, meaning it will not be under the control of the local
DISABLED people in Dorset are horrified at reports that they are becoming the target of abuse over benefit fraud. A group of charities including Scope, Mencap, the National Autistic Society and the Royal National Institute for the Blind say
COUNCIL house rents in the New Forest are due to jump by well above the rate of inflation for the second year running. Tenants are facing an increase of more than seven per cent, which will result in the average weekly rent rising from £84.47
HARD-WORKING volunteers at Bournemouth Aviation Museum have won a three-year temporary stay of execution at their Adventure Wonderland site. Councillors at Christchurch Borough Council’s planning committee voted to allow the popular attraction
SCOTT Malone admits he must quickly recapture his form to fend off increasing competition on Cherries’ left flank – and avoid criticism for slipping standards. The exciting winger is determined to pick up where he left off when he makes his return from
“YOU’LL never win anything with kids,” the football pundit Alan Hansen once famously said. He was wrong. Hundreds of youngsters all over the Daily Echo’s circulation area, from North Dorset to Bournemouth and Ringwood to Poole, taste sporting success
LEE Bradbury is confident his new-look strike-force of Wes Thomas and Matt Tubbs will deliver – in any formation. Tubbs reunited with his former Crawley Town team-mate when he joined Cherries for a club record fee of around £800,000. The pair featured
CHRISTCHURCH are waiting to discover whether lightning has struck twice in the same place after lodging an appeal following their Russell-Cotes Cup defeat by Gosport Borough. Priory were beaten 5-2 by the Southern League outfit at Privett Park
BASHLEY back-up goalkeeper Joe Prodomo has dual registered with Christchurch and will make his debut in their Wessex League Cup clash with Romsey Town at Hurn Bridge tonight (7.45pm). The Mudeford-based stopper started out in the Priory youth ranks before
