CIVILIANS may once have been encouraged to dig for victory, but it’s soldiers in Blandford who are now growing their own. Thirty new kitchen gardens between two football pitches at the Blandford Garrison have seen troops and their families swap rifles
AND so it goes on, day after day – tales of unrelenting misery, so tragic they’d bring tears to a statue’s eye. There’s only one way out. The great British public has already dug deep, but, sadly, not deep enough. No, there’s a long way to go yet
FORMER I’m A Celebrity... contestant Toby Anstis will be the new voice of mid-mornings as 2CR-FM relaunches as Heart next month. He’ll follow the ever-popular Breakfast Show with David and Caroline with his well-established show that has gone out every
DORSET roots rockers State of Undress release a new single on Monday. One More Shot (Of You Boy) has been produced by Billy Bragg’s long-time producer, Grant Showbiz, who has also worked with the likes of The Fall and The Smiths, and engineered
POOLE Town captain Jamie Thomas insists he is not getting carried away – despite his side recording a fourth successive victory in emphatic fashion. Poole demolished Suttoners by 163 runs to remain top of the Dorset Saturday Premier Division
BURNLEY are back. Little Burnley, proud Burnley, Alistair Campbell’s Burnley can stand proudly alongside Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and, much, much more importantly, Blackburn. Back where they used to belong. The
SITTING watching Cherries all but secure their Football League status on April 18 at Chester City’s Deva Stadium, I spotted a familiar face at the far end of the press bench. Wade Elliott, on a rare Saturday off from Burnley’s chase for
THE number of complaints and queries about health services in Bournemouth and Poole increased during the last financial year. The Patient Advice and Liaison Service, or PALS, handled 4,562 health information inquiries in 2008-9, compared with 9,132 the
NEW Forest Verderers have backed proposals for a blanket 30mph speed limit across the New Forest in a bid to further reduce animal fatalities. The call for the reduction of the limit from 40mph on unfenced roads was made at the May Verderers
MUSICIANS and singers in Blandford are being invited to learn and perform Handel’s Messiah in a single day on June 6. The “Messiah from scratch” initiative is being held to raise money for the Blandford Parish Centre Appeal – a new building for the
FIREFIGHTERS were called to three more heath fires on Sunday night. They were twice called to suspected arson attacks on an area of heath at Parley Common, to the rear of The Heatherlands Centre on Barns Road in Ferndown, at 9.45pm and 10.45pm
THE RNLI will soon be patrolling the beaches in Christchurch, working with the town’s lifesaving club to improve safety. The agreement between the RNLI and Christchurch council will see lifeguard zones at Avon Beach, Friars Cliff and Highcliffe beachs
ON A chilly spring evening, there’s nothing better than a warm curry, so it’s no surprise we found ourselves in the Starlight on the way back from a couple of drinks in Christchurch. Being a Thursday evening, the restaurant wasn’t exactly packed
CONTRARY to popular belief, avocados are not fattening. In fact, if you want to feel great and avoid the bulge during the summer months, then avocados are one of the most nutritious foods you can choose as part of a balanced diet. Although
FOR a treat try the Ridgeview Merret Grosvenor 2006, which is a vintage quality sparkling wine priced at £21.95, (available to buy online at Ridgeview.co.uk). Winner of a silver medal, this wine has very distinct fruit flavours featuring citrus and grapefruit
ALTHOUGH she hasn’t got any recipes for Stink Bug Eggs or Mr Twit’s Beard Food, Sophie Dahl’s new cookbook is still a delight. The granddaughter of children’s author Roald Dahl (a man who reportedly never had white milk on the table, always
THOSE of us who are parents can only try to imagine ourselves in the position of Alison and David Woolner and their family, and the heartbreak and unbearable pain it would bring if we were. The incredibly moving story surrounding the death of their son
TRAINS between Bournemouth and Brockenhurst were severely disrupted this morning after a fatality on the line at New Milton. British Transport Police were called to the station at 8.10am today after a report that a person had died on the tracks
The First Bournemouth Scout Group would like to thank those who attended or ran a stall at their recent summer fete. Yet again we had a very successful day on Redhill Common. For more details of Scouting in Bournemouth visit bournemouth-scouts.org.uk
I have little time for Sir Fred Goodwin, the ex-Royal Bank of Scotland boss. But given the fuss made by MPs of all parties over his pension package and the talk of stripping him of his knighthood, I find it astonishing that the soon-to-be-gone-but-not-soon-enough
Our problems with our Parliamentary democracy are far more serious than those of some MPs being greedy concerning their expenses. The real problem with our system is that it totally fails to address the four major and inter-connected problems of our
I was delighted to read that Bournemouth East MP Tobias Ellwood is embarrassed about the people’s money being squandered on MPs’ expenses. (Daily Echo, May 23). He has good reason to be. I am also pleased to read that he has offered
Thank you for your article in Friday’s Daily Echo (End the nightmare, May 22). As a member of Burley Parish Council, I know that we have been working on traffic calming for some time. The first thing we did was to commission a speed
May 23-30 is Greyhound Awareness Week, when events are held across the UK to draw public attention to the plight of greyhounds. According to international greyhound protection organisation Greyhound Action, as many as 15,000 greyhounds, bred for the
I am extremely puzzled by a most peculiarly worded sign that has now appeared on the Sandbanks Ferry relating to Studland beach, promoted by The National Trust. Part of the wording is “Discover British families in their natural habitat”. Bearing in mind
People who write these things and want the speed limit reduced (Daily Echo, May 21) from 40mph are usually people who don’t live in or around the Forest but for instance in Southampton (townies) or holiday makers who think they know best. They are not
A FORMER headmistress of Bournemouth School for Girls has died aged 85. Helen Braund was headmistress from 1976 to 1983 during a period of great change to the education system and continued to take an active interest and support the school
WHEREVER you live – village, town, city, remote island or seaside haven – you’re never too far away from an animal. It might be a cow, some sheep or a humble pigeon – but look out of your window and chances are you’ll see a wonderful creature
A BUS obsessive with a “compulsion” to steal passenger vehicles walked free from court after a judge said his problem might never be cured. Nicholas Attwell took a £220,000 coach from a depot in Witney before driving it across the country. On one
INSPIRED by one of the biggest selling albums of the decade, Dreamboats and Petticoats: The Musical opens a six-night run at The Mayflower, Southampton on Monday . It’s 1961 and emotions run high as talented young musicians Norman and Bobby compete to
LAST year, I won the ultimate prize on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. As Chris Tarrant and the audience went ballistic, I leapt out of my seat and punched the air in triumph. This did alarm my fellow passengers at the front of the plane – along with
THE expenses of two more Dorset MPs are set to be revealed tomorrow as the weekend drew two of their Dorset colleagues into the saga. Liberal Democrat Annette Brooke, Mid Dorset and Poole North, has invited the Echo to go through her claims
CHERRIES co-owner Paul Baker is hoping to stave off the threat of a player mutiny after going cap in hand to the PFA for a loan for unpaid wages. Baker has apparently asked the Professional Footballers’ Association – the players’ union – to temporarily
BUCCANEERS rider Andrew Aldridge admitted he had proved a “big point” to Len Silver after piling up 10 paid 12 in his side’s impressive 49-47 victory at Rye House. The veteran Cobras’ promoter wrote in his programme notes for Saturday’s clash that he
“He will never be referred to in the past but always in the present”. The pain and grief are still raw in the voice of mum Alison Woolner, who lost her son Luke to cancer a little over a week ago. He was just 17. The popular teenager
A RACING dinghy and an ice-cream boat dramatically collided with the chain ferry within minutes of each other late on Saturday afternoon. First two men were rescued after the dinghy struck the Sandbanks – Studland vessel on Saturday evening
BRENDON Daniel led Oakmeadians to a thrilling Bournemouth Sevens triumph and then revealed that he could ply his trade with the club next term. The former Bath and New Zealand sevens star played a key role as Oaks avenged last season’s South West Cup
BOURNEMOUTH suffered a heavy 82-run defeat at Havant, while Bashley were on the receiving end of a narrow 15-run reverse at the hands of Alton. Defending champions Havant piled up 238 for five as Bournemouth toiled in the field against Chris Morgan (
SKIPPER Christian Pain saw old heads Glyn Treagus and Simon Cook spearhead Lymington to an eye-catching four-wicket win over Hampshire Academy – and then singled out young gun Tommy Barton for rich praise. Treagus, 34, and 37-year-old Cook both made
A REQUEST to extend the stay of execution for the Hengistbury Head Outdoor Education Centre has been refused. Bournemouth council chiefs have rejected a request to keep the centre open until the end of October, saying it would cost another £35,000 of
A POOLE man intends to appeal after his dream of setting up his own dog day care business was rejected by planners. Neil Stow thought he had hit all the right buttons with his proposal for day-boarding for dogs at a warehouse at the rear of 293 Wallisdown
CASTLEPOINT is stepping up its campaign against inconsiderate motorists with the help of a high-tech number plate recognition system – and the threat of clamping. The £56,000 Automatic Number Plate Recognition System (ANPR) was installed at
IT WAS THE YEAR of the General Strike, of Winnie-the-Pooh and of the mysterious disappearance of crime writer Agatha Christie. But, in Bournemouth, a man called Sir Dan Godfrey wasn’t worrying about any of that. As founder of the town’s Symphony Orchestra
WINDSURFING ace Guy Cribb raised more than £10,000 during a gruelling cross-Channel marathon surf. Guy, from Poole, who is 13 times British number one and five times world champ runner-up, made the 70-mile journey with current world championship
