Daily Echo review of the year 2018: April to June

• Yet more roadworks appear, this time on the Upton by-pass for six weeks. There are also long tailbacks in Tuckton, due to the roadworks at Tuckton Bridge which becomes an internet viral after joker Jess Chavez dubs the words ‘I’ve had enough of waiting about in traffic’ over the Hitler speech from the film Downfall. Meanwhile, Alex McKinstry and his friend Werner Oder enjoy a breakfast picnic on the shut bridge.
• Dorset County Council chief executive Debbie Ward is revealed as the county’s highest paid council official. She hauls in £181,00 in salary and pension contributions every year.
• An era comes to an end as Bournemouth’s town centre Marks and Spencers closes.
• Poole based Lush is credited with curing little Cash Rudd’s eczema after his mother uses their Dream Cream on him. “It was almost instant,” says delighted mum, Sarah Rudd.
• Dorset author Libby Page celebrates the sale of her debut novel, The Lido, for a six-figure sum.
• An unusual boar fish washes up at Kimmeridge as the county basks in a 24-degree heatwave.
• Ringwood couple The Beresfords launch their Win a Megahome competition.
• Lightening rips through the skies over Mudeford and elsewhere as the good weather breaks with storms.
• Disgruntled members of the public are banned from a key debate at Christchurch Council to discuss the proposed merger with Bournemouth and Poole.
• Eddie Howe leads a group of Cherries legends taking on New Milton in a game played in memory of Emma Bailey, wife of ex-Cherry John Bailey, who died of cancer aged just 40.

May

• An inquest is opened into the death of a man whose remains were found on heathland near Ferndown 12 years ago. The body was originally discovered by firefighters.
• The tooth of a Megalodon – a giant shark – is swiped from Bournemouth Natural Science Society.
• Happy users of the Druitt Hall learn that plans for its refurbishment are still on track.
• More than 100,00 people flock to Bournemouth for a record breaking bank holiday weekend. But councillor David Smith blasts lazy litterbugs who leave Bournemouth’s golden sands strewn with rubbish.
• Days later thousands of Poole homes and businesses are left without water after major flooding at Fleetsbridge is caused by a burst water main. The roundabout resembles a lake. A resident describes the amount of water as ‘staggering’.
• Princess Anne is delighted to launch the Susan Mary, Lymington SailAbility’s WheelyBoat, during an event at Pebble Beach hotel and restaurant.
• Dr Alison Cronin of Monkey World travels to London to rescue Freya the Geoffrey’s marmoset, found clinging to a scaffolding. The malnourished ape was quickly reintroduced to its own kind at the Wool rescue centre.
• Travellers who set up home in Baiter Park are alleged to be treating the public open space as a ‘racetrack’. Police are called over allegations of reckless driving.
• Schoolgirl Chloe Young of St Edwards School, Poole, stuns teachers by achieving a record 100 per cent attendance every year for more than ten years.
• Street and school parties are held everywhere to celebrate the wedding of Prince Harry to Meghan Markle.
• World champion heavyweight boxer Anthony Joshua visits The Lighthouse to raise money for Dorset Mind charity.
• Emergency services are called to Haviland Road in the early hours after a car ploughs into house. Miraculously, residents are unhurt.

June

• Poole Hospital shows off it’s new pharmacy robot. It doesn’t look like anything from Star Wars but its two autonomous arms can dispense 200 items per hour.
• Martin Sampson of Brockenhurst is astonished when a baby donkey is born on his driveway. They call the female foal Victoria after their home, Victoria Cottage.
• An intricate crop circle appears in a field at Sixpenny Handley whilst a large fire breaks out at Nuffield Industrial Estate.
• Angry councillors who oppose the reorganisation merger of Bournemouth, Poole and Christchurch councils walk out of a Shadow Authority meeting.
• Dorset Police show off their new recruits – bobby buddies, knitted bears to hand to distressed children when police attend incidents.
• MP Chris Chope feels the heat after his latest bit of bill-scuppering in parliament, when he’s subjected to a media storm after blocking new measures targeting upskirting. Fellow MP Tobias Ellwood describes him as a ‘dinosaur’.
• Charmaine Collins, 28, pleads guilty to six charges of animal cruelty after 60 dead animals were found at her flat in Bournemouth’s Hamilton Road.
• Bournemouth beach gets hotter than Copacabana and Poole car artist Andy Saunders opens an exhibition at Beaulieu Motor Museum.
• The Radio 4 Today programme broadcasts from the Royal Bournemouth. Presenter Justin Webb is fascinated by the hospital’s use of new technology.
• Milford artist Bridget Harrison-Jeive sees her artwork go on display at the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition.
• Pupils at Ferndown Middle school wear skirts as a protest against not being allowed to wear shorts in the heatwave.
• After England beat Germany, Dorset (and the rest of the UK) dares to dream, whilst shoppers score at the biggest sale Beales has ever held.