Archive
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Agony of our 26-year wait for the truth
A GRIEVING Dorset couple are waiting to hear whether criminal charges are to be brought over the death of their only daughter in hospital more than 26 years ago. Joan and Derek Bye claim 12-year-old Helenor died in South Wales in 1978 as a result of a
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Lauren says thanks to kind Echo reader
A GENEROUS Daily Echo reader has donated £1,000 to the fight against breast cancer after reading about a fund-raising event in the paper. The anonymous reader sent the huge sum towards Lauren Gledhill's sponsored swim, to be held later this month in memory
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RELIEF IS IN SIGHT
MOTORISTS and traders have received some unexpected good news with the announcement that the A338 roadworks will finish three weeks ahead of schedule. Following criticism from hard-hit Bournemouth traders and tourism chiefs, Dorset County Council has
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The Winner's tale
HE'S an acid-tongued restaurant critic, an outspoken campaigner on law and order and the director of some of modern cinema's most controversial films. But Michael Winner was charm personified as he regaled a Bournemouth audience with tales of his 40-year
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Roofer died after head hit pavement
A YOUNG Bournemouth man died after a single punch thrown by a jealous man who accused him of "chatting up" his girlfriend, it was claimed at an inquest. Hadyn Matthews, 28, had just left his local pub when Toby Culton, whose girlfriend was a barmaid,
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Jail for woman who stabbed total stranger
A WOMAN who plunged her mother's kitchen knife into the back of a total stranger has been jailed for five years. The three-and-a-half inch blade narrowly missed Steven Weldon's spinal cord and right lung, Bournemouth Crown Court heard on Tuesday. Leanne
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Town in mourning for a gentle giant Spike
A TOWN is in mourning after the sudden death of a "gentle giant" who was a well-known cliff rescue lifesaver and assistant pier master. Michael Williamson was known to most in Swanage as "Spike" and served for 30 years with the Swanage Coastguard team
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Movie ship model in cut-price sail...
A MOVIE star has been auctioned off at a snip of a price - just £50. The star in question is a 22ft-long scale model of a two-masted tall ship which appeared in a Hollywood film starring Jeff Bridges. It was put up for sale in Wareham on October 12 with
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Morris leads locals home
WAREHAM teacher Carl Morris was the best-placed local athlete amongst thousands of runners in the Great South Run at Portsmouth. He ran an impressive time of 50 minutes and 27 seconds for the 10-mile distance - a performance that would have won most road
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Ant's on the march
JUBILANT Poole Speedway management duo Matt Ford and Neil Middleditch paid special tribute to teenager Antonio Lindback following the club's Elite League championship win on Monday night. The young Swede, who joined the club midway through last season
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Little sister matches the bravery of Sophie
WHEN little Francesca Sivess said she wanted to give her younger sister toes for Christmas it brought a tear to her mum's eye. Thanks to the generosity of Daily Echo readers and five-year-old Francesca's bravery, Christmas has come early for the young
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Simon's frock shock is first-rate comedy
SIMON Williams made his name as a dashingly handsome romantic lead in TV series like Upstairs Downstairs, First Among Equals and Sword of Honour. The idea of seeing him tottering around on high heels looking like a cross between Dame Edna and Hinge and
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Raiders steal £10,000-worth of clothes
RAIDERS who broke into a warehouse and took clothing worth thousands of pounds made their escape in a stolen van. The gang broke into a yard at Earley & Lock in Albany Road on Wey-mouth's Granby estate before forcing their way into a neighbouring
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Hospital A&E unit 'meeting waiting times target'
WEST Dorset's flagship hospital is meeting national figures for the time patients wait for treatment in accident and emergency units (A&E). A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) reveals that in 2002 23 per cent of patients waited more
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Ex-MP outraged at relief road claims
A FORMER Conservative MP is threatening legal action over claims about the Weymouth relief road published in a Labour campaign newsletter just before a council by-election. Ian Bruce, who represented South Dorset until 2001, took offence at the October
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Heading for Africa: to help build a school
STUDENTS at a Dorchester school are gearing up to help people less fortunate than themselves. The pupils at Thomas Hardye School are preparing to raise funds to be able to participate in community-led projects in Kenya. Thirteen students from the school
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Couple will have to knock down cottage
A NORTH Dorset couple will have to demolish their partly-built dream cottage after it was found to be bigger than originally approved. Paul Jones and Louise Hayes-Jones were granted permission for a two-bedroomed home next to Motcombe church in June.
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Travel chief steps in to save trip
A YOUNG couple look set to have their dream holiday after all. Travel boss Peter Bath of Bath Travel read of their plight in the Daily Echo and stepped in to offer them a free break. As reported in Monday's Echo, Dan Mole and Katie Parkhurst have been
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What scares you more?
IT'S a pretty scary world this one we live in. It is one where Balaclava-clad barbarians cut off innocent people's heads. A car is loaded with explosives and rammed into a hotel. Savages shoot down traumatised children fleeing for their lives after holding
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I'm puzzled by lost memories
SOME thoughts this week on the subject of memory. I recently unearthed a relic from the 1980s: my Rubik's cube. Actually, it wasn't really a Rubik's cube, but one of the cheap knock-offs that were widely available at the time because the real thing was
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Old auction room going, going, gone for housing
A HISTORIC building that has served as an army drill hall and as an auction room is about to be given a new lease of life as luxury housing. Don James, of Redmart Developments, has pledged to turn the Holdenhurst Road property into a "landmark building
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12-year-old girl was 'victim of medical profession'
HELENOR Bye would have been 39 now if she had lived: perhaps married with children. But like all those who die too young, she never had the chance to fulfil her potential. The inscription on her gravestone describes her as a "victim of the medical profession
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Overturned lorry adds to traffic woes, but...
A BYSTANDER said he was lucky to be alive after a skip lorry loaded with builders' waste tipped on to its side on a pavement, demolishing part of a listed wall outside Bournemouth's Pavilion Theatre. Rob Brennan, 20, from Ferndown, had been sitting nearby
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Fay has the last word
BEST-SELLING author Fay Weldon capped off the third Poole Word and Book Festival by talking about her life story and her new book, Mantrapped, at Poole's Lighthouse. Interviewed in front of a well-attended audience by Sally Winter, the 73-year author,
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Unlucky Stewart's hit by hand injury
GARETH Stewart faces an anxious wait to discover whether his injury jinx has struck again after he dislocated his finger during Cherries' friendly against Weymouth yesterday (October 12). The luckless goalkeeper damaged the ring finger on his left hand
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WHALLEY QUITS THE GROVE
PORTLAND United's hope of avoiding relegation from the Sydenhams Wessex League this season were dealt a double blow yesterday. A 4-0 home defeat at the hands of Lymington and New Milton followed news that captain Dave Whalley has quit the Grove Corner
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JUAN'S AWAY !
DORCHESTER fans are hoping they haven't seen the last of their Spanish goalscoring hero Juan Ugarte. The 24-year-old former Real Sociedad striker, who has scored six goals in his seven appearances for the Magpies but has missed the last three games through
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Pressure lets up on interest rates
INTEREST rate rises are now less likely after latest data revealed that inflation has fallen to its lowest level since March. Inflation figures for September showed the annual rate had fallen by 0.2 per cent to 1.1 per cent. The surprise drop was partly
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PROTECT OUR ROMAN VILLA
A 2,000-YEAR-OLD Roman villa unearthed on Portland could be covered over with a sports field. Islanders are concerned that the newly-discovered ancient site, on playing fields opposite Royal Manor Arts College at Weston, could be hidden away again. Workmen
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Parking charges set to rise to boost revenue
WINTER car park charges may be increased in Weymouth and Portland to boost revenue by £100,000 next year. The lower fees for November to March would be chopped and present summer rates would become the standard charge all the year around, if councillors
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Here's one formula for success
FORMER Formula 1 champion Nigel Mansell scaled new heights when he visited the Avon Tyrrell youth centre in the New Forest. And the Grand Prix race ace, who took the world crown in 1992, was still king of the castle after beating his 16-year-old son Greg
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Flood risk map 'irresponsible'
ENVIRONMENT chiefs have been branded irresponsible and misleading for failing to show Christchurch's formidable network of flood defences on a new hi-tech flood risk map. The Environment Agency has spent £30 million on the map, which shows areas that
