News Archive

Young people who want to enjoy fun activities while helping their communities are being invited to join the county’s first volunteer police cadet unit. The scheme, set up in partnership between Dorset Police, The Bourne Academy, and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for Dorset, will start taking its first recruits this summer. People ...

Officers are appealing to the public for help to identify a woman suspected of shoplifting from a store in Dorchester. At around 4.45pm on Wednesday 20 February 2019 a woman entered Superdrug on South Street, selected a number of Olay products to the value of £560 and, after spending less than two minutes in the store, ...

It’s the final countdown! It’s just 14 days until the new Dorset Council begins to serve residents across the county. On 1 April, Dorset Council will replace the existing district and borough councils (East Dorset, North Dorset, Purbeck, West Dorset, Weymouth & Portland) and Dorset County Council, all of which will cease to exist. This reorganisation will bring ...

The first Big Bang science and engineering fair for Dorset children was held at the Tank Museum on Wednesday 13 March. 1,700 primary and secondary students arrived to see over 30 exhibitors showcasing the latest use of technology and science in the industry, making it the biggest event of its kind in the county to date. 14 ...

A fire crew from Dorchester station was mobilised to a fire involving a chimney at a domestic property at Heath Cottages in Puddletown on Sunday evening at approximately 19:55. The attending crew arrived on scene and quickly confirmed that the fire was confined to the Chimney. Crews extinguished the fire using equipment from the ‘Appliance Chimney kit’. On ...

Dorset County Hospital is calling for nominations for its annual staff awards – The Going the Extra Mile (GEM) Awards. The GEM Awards scheme recognises outstanding members of staff, volunteers and teams who have exceeded what is expected of them in terms of performance, effort and attitude. Nominations can be made by members of staff, volunteers, patients, ...

Free seaside bungalows for women who have spent a lifetime serving their country and community. The Home of Devenish, a charity based in Dorset, is offering free seaside retirement housing to Christian widows of vicars or military officers who are in need. The homes in the seaside resort town of Weymouth are being offered to the ...

A school in Dorchester which operates a cloud-first approach to the use of digital technologies in the classroom will soon be hosting a regional Google for Education Conference in association with C-Learning (Cloud Learning Specialists). The Prince of Wales School, Maiden Castle Road, Dorchester is a Google for Education ‘Reference School’ – a prestigious title ...

A glistening golden oak has been installed at Dorset County Hospital – and it represents a very powerful message. The sculpture, named ‘Precious Scars’, has been installed to recognise the incredible gift of life given by organ donors, with the support of their families. The sculpture, located in one of the hospital’s courtyards, is a permanent reminder ...

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service is reminding people living in thatched properties to take every precaution against fire. It follows two recent serious fires involving thatched homes – in Netheravon and Cranborne – which each needed well over 75 firefighters to tackle. While there is no increased risk of fire within a thatched property, the ...

Larmer Tree festival announce details of this summer’s comedy line-up Nish Kumar / Josie Long / Ivo Graham / Stuart Goldsmith / Catherine Bohart / Jess Fostekew / Anna Mann / Laura Lexx, and more PLUS ADDITIONAL MUSICAL ACTS ANNOUNCED BLICK BASSY / LONDON ASTROBEAT ORCHESTRA / J.S. ONDARA / TIDE LINES / JERAMIAH FERRARI / CURSE OF ...

A bid by Dorset County Council for a new special free school in the county has been backed by the Department for Education (DfE). Ministers announced that 39 new schools will open across the country as part of plans to create 3,500 additional school places for pupils with complex needs such as autism, severe learning difficulties, ...

A member of staff from Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service (DWFRS) has won a national award in recognition of her dedication to an annual Christmas Day lunch. Watch Manager Kate Dewey, who works in the Service Control Centre, was named as Community Champion at this year’s APD National Control Room Awards, held in Nottingham ...

No good can come of carrying a knife – Bin it From 11 – 17 March members of the public in Dorset can dispose of unwanted knives and bladed items at designated police stations without fear of prosecution. Please check online for locations and opening times before you make your journey as not all are open ...

The Prince of Wales School in Dorchester has unveiled a stunning and thoughtful piece of artwork by former pupil Zak Trevett as part of it’s commitment to the Plastic Free Dorchester Campaign. The mural, part of a two-piece commission by Thomas Hardye Sixth Former Zak, is inspired by the school’s Green Flag Eco-School status. Headteacher Mr. Gary Spracklen ...

Detectives investigating an incident that resulted in the arrests of two people in Dorchester town centre are appealing for any witnesses to come forward. Dorset Police was called at 10.26am on Wednesday 6 March 2019 to reports of a male who was believed to be intoxicated walking in the road in High West Street. Officers attended and ...

CAP Money courses give people the tools to budget, save and spend more effectively so that they can take back control of their finances. The first full course ever held in Dorchester ran at the Dorford Centre in January and had 19 attendees. They are now enthusiastic ambassadors for it. Listen to some of their ...

You may spot some new wheels at Dorset County Hospital. Thanks to the generous donation of a mini Tesla electric car by R Symons Ltd,children will now have the opportunity to drive themselves from Kingfisher Ward to the operating theatre before their surgery. Jo Webb and Simon Jones from R Symons Ltd made the special delivery to ...

Dorset County Council is holding a Day Opportunities Event to let people know about the range of activities that are available in the Weymouth and Portland area. The event aims to offer something for everyone, regardless of age, health or disability. A wide variety of opportunities will cover areas such as education, work, volunteering, meeting friends, joining ...

Officers investigating the theft of a tractor from a farm near Dorchester are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward. The incident occurred between 5.30pm on Saturday 2 March and 9.30am on Sunday 3 March 2019 at a farm on Norden Lane near Maiden Newton. A gate padlock was cut and a blue Landlegend ...

Classics such as Edith Nesbit’s ‘The Railway Children’, C.S Lewis’ ‘Narnia: ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ and Frances Hodgson Burnett’s ‘The Secret Garden’ are at the heart of a new school library that has opened at The Prince of Wales School in Dorchester, Dorset this week. At an opening ceremony today (Monday 4th March ...

Dorset Police recognised police officers, staff and volunteers for their exceptional contribution to policing at the annual awards ceremony on Tuesday 26 February 2018. The ceremony, which took place at Queen Elizabeth School in Wimborne, saw a total of 22 awards presented to the recipients in the company of family and friends. Following nominations from colleagues within ...

Children across the country have today (Friday 1 March) found out which secondary school they will be going to in September. 97% Dorset children have got their first choice of secondary or upper school – a 2% increase on last year. Dorset County Council processed a total of 4116 applications from Dorset residents in readiness for today’s ...

Officers investigating an assault on a vulnerable victim in Dorchester are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward. At around 4.30pm on Tuesday 26 February 2019 the victim, a man who has learning difficulties, was on his bicycle and followed to his home in Louise Road by a white tipper van. The cyclist was ...

The Coroner for Dorset is seeking the assistance of the public to find the next of kin of a man who died in Blandford. Martin Mangan, who was 79 years old, died at his home address in Jubilee Way. His death is not being treated as suspicious and no police investigation is needed into his ...

A man has been convicted of the manslaughter of Louella Fletcher-Michie for failing to get her the vital medical help she needed after she took a class A drug he had supplied her at Bestival. Ceon Broughton, 30 and of Island Centre Way, Enfield, London, watched his girlfriend’s condition deteriorate over a six-hour period in ...

Pupils from Damers First School in Dorchester travelled to London yesterday (Wednesday 27 February) to lobby Environment Secretary Michael Gove over littering in the UK. They want to reduce waste and challenge a ‘throwaway culture’ and asked Mr Gove to give the green light for a new bottle Deposit Return Scheme that includes all materials – ...

A number of arrests were made during the latest day of action on roads in the Weymouth area. Officers from the traffic unit teamed up with dedicated officers targeting suspected county lines drugs networks for the day of intensification on Tuesday 26 February 2019. The intelligence-based operation saw a total of 18 vehicles stopped, including nine that ...

The new lighting was recently installed following a generous donation from the Helicopter Emergency Landing Pads (HELP) Appeal, a national charity set up to help provide Major Trauma Centres with the necessary infrastructure to enable and improve night landing. In an emergency, when time is of the essence, being able to land an air ambulance seconds ...

Officers are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward following a burglary at a business near Piddlehinton. The incident happened sometime between 11am on Saturday 23 February and 4.15am on Monday 25 February 2019 at Enterprise Park. Four shipping containers were broken into belonging to Knighton Countryside Management, with around £45,000 worth of tools ...

WAND (Woman’s Action Network Dorset) is proud to bring you their fifth Dorset Women’s week following on from the success of the last four years. This year it runs from 2-9 March. There are events and activities being held during the week either specifically for women or celebrating women as well as special offers, all with ...

Councillors have backed the first budget of the new Dorset Council at a meeting held on Wednesday 20 February. The new unitary authority, Dorset Council, will be formed on 1 April 2019 and will replace the six county, district and borough councils. Members of Shadow Dorset Council voted in favour of the budget proposals for 2019/20, ...

Officers investigating a series of alleged burglaries in the Dorchester area have arrested three men. The four incidents had been reported to police since Tuesday 12 February 2019. One of them happened in Herringston Road, two in Dagmar Road and one in Peverell Avenue East. It is alleged that electronic items, wallets, mobile phones, a bag ...

A passenger involved in a road traffic collision near Sherborne in January has sadly died from his injuries. At 5.50pm on Saturday 26 January 2019 Dorset Police received a report of a collision involving a single vehicle that had left the carriageway at Tiley Knap, Middlemarsh. The vehicle involved was a silver Peugeot Boxer van. The fire ...

Have you ever thought about standing as a local councillor? Now’s the time to find out more, before Dorset goes to the polls on Thursday 2 May 2019 to elect the 82 members of the new Dorset Council. Dorset Council Chief Executive (Designate), Matt Prosser explained: “Councillors play a key role in local democracy. They are the ...

A crew from Dorchester fire station attended reports of a vehicle fire early this morning at approximately 1.30. On arrival at the incident, they requested a second crew to assist, which also came from Dorchester fire station. Crews confirmed that the fire had spread to involve a domestic property and adjacent vehicles. 4 breathing apparatus 2 hose reel ...

Officers investigating a fatal road traffic collision in Dorset are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward. At 12.22pm today, Friday 15 February 2019, Dorset Police received a report of a collision on the C13 by the junction with Mill Street near to Fontmell Magna. The collision involved a white Mercedes lorry and ...

Thorncombe Woods, near Dorchester, has a new ‘Lost Words’ trail for visitors to follow, inspired by the book of the same name by Robert MacFarlane and Jackie Morris. The Lost Words celebrates the once-common ‘nature’ words – including acorn, wren, starling and dandelion – that were dropped from the Oxford Junior Dictionary. It takes these words ...

Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Authority has approved a budget of £55.8 million for 2019-20. At its meeting yesterday (12 February), the Authority agreed to increase its share of the council tax by 4p per week for Band D properties in Bournemouth, Dorset, Poole, Swindon and Wiltshire – an annual fire precept for Band D ...

The High Sheriff of Dorset, Mrs Jacqueline Swift, has recently awarded two Fire Cadets with certificates of recognition as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for their support at prestigious events across the county over the past year. Daisy Brown, a student at Shaftesbury School, and Bevin-Mae White, a student at Lytchett Minster School, completed a ...

Man due in court following incident in Wimborne A man is due to appear in court in connection with an incident in Wimborne that involved evacuations of nearby properties and road closures. Dorset Police was called at 3.15am on Tuesday 12 February 2019 to reports of a concern for the welfare of a man at an ...

“Please help me to fight for better treatment for people who battle Functional Neurological Disorder like me.” In the summer of 2017 Kate Bidwell had her life turned upside down by Functional Neurological Disorder. FND is a condition that is caused by a problem with the functioning of the nervous system and thought to be the result ...

Officers investigating a burglary in Poundbury are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward. The burglary occurred between 10.20pm on Monday 11 February and 7.30am today, Tuesday 12 February 2019, at a home in Peverell Avenue East while the occupants were asleep upstairs. One of the victims, a man aged in his 70s, came ...

A man has been arrested and charged in connection with the alleged theft of items from a store in Weymouth. It was reported that at around 11.45am on Saturday 19 January 2019 a man entered the shop at the BP petrol station on Dorchester Road and picked up a number of items before making off ...

Officers are appealing for witnesses to come forward following a fail-to-stop collision in Weymouth. At 4pm on Tuesday 29 January 2019 a collision occurred on Queen Street involving a Sym Jet4 moped and an unknown 4×4. The moped was travelling along Queen Street toward King Street when the rider was knocked off by a car, described as ...

It’s been a give-away day at West Dorset District Council with almost £420,000 in grants and loans given to local community projects in the space of a couple of hours. Council leader Tony Alford said after the meeting that he was delighted the council was able to help so many organisations…before it goes out of business ...

Officers investigating a distraction theft at an antiques fair near Dorchester are appealing for anyone with information to come forward. The fair was being held at Kingston Maurward College on Sunday 3 February 2019. One of the stallholders reported that at around lunchtime a man and woman approached her stall and selected four silver bracelets and ...

How local communities would recover from a disaster or major incident was discussed by Dorset Local Resilience Forum (LRF) partners this week. Recent national incidents – such as the Grenfell Tower fire, significant flooding in different parts of the country and the terrorist attacks in London and Manchester – have highlighted the importance of recovery and ...

Police and Crime Panel members have approved plans to raise the amount of money households pay to fund Dorset’s police service by £2 a month. Martyn Underhill, Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Dorset, held a six week consultation into proposals to raise the precept – the part of a council tax bill which funds policing ...

From 7 – 14 February, 10am until 4pm, you can create your own Valentines Day Card at Dorset County Museum, 14 Pope Street, Brewery Square, while viewing samples of Victorian Valentines Day Cards from the Museum’s collection. This event is free, and there is no need to book.

The borough planning committee were told on Wednesday that the existing building, last used as a cafe, will be knocked down by mechanical digger and the area re-surfaced. Other buildings in the area will be demolished later in the year, with applications expected in March. The pier is being demolished above deck level to make it ...

A man has been arrested in connection with a reported serious assault in Dorchester. At around 3.30am on Wednesday 30 January 2019 Dorset Police received a report of a disturbance involving a group of men and women near to the Shell petrol station in London Road. It was reported that two men were assaulted with a bladed ...

A REFERENDUM is being held in Holwell today (Feb 07) to vote on the area’s neighbourhood plan. If approved and adopted it will give a greater say over future developments in the parish. Residents are being asked to vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the proposals which were drawn up by local people and agreed by the parish ...

Tuesday’s Weymouth and Portland borough council meeting had to be abandoned after its chairman became unwell and officials cleared the room. Council leader Geoff Cant had just opened a debate on the transfer of assets to Portland Town Council when he needed support from vice chairman Mike Byatt as he started to fall forward from his ...

A Weymouth man wanted in connection with a reported assault has been arrested and charged. An appeal was issued by officers searching for Jacob Lemm, 22, who was wanted in connection with an alleged assault in Louviers Road in Littlemoor on Friday 18 January 2019. Lemm was arrested on the afternoon of Tuesday 5 February 2019 and ...

Children at Southill Primary School in Weymouth have designed a park and stride scheme to encourage students and their families to be more active and environmentally-aware. The Year Six students planned and mapped the route along traffic-free paths, with no roads to cross, before walking along it to assess how long it took. The aim of the ...

On Friday morning last week, the school was greeted with a terrible sight! Tyre tracks leading up to the gate post suggest a large vehicle hit the post late Thursday night (after 9:00pm on 31/01/19) or early Friday morning (before 6:00am on 01/02/19). Before children arrived on Friday the school safely removed the gate and ...

Crews from Dorchester and Weymouth station were mobilised to reports of a fire at a commercial site on St George’s road, Dorchester, this morning (Friday). The first crew on scene discovered that the fire had been extinguished prior to their arrival and proceeded to carry out an inspection only. The first crew were able to stand down ...

Detectives investigating a serious assault in Dorchester are appealing for witnesses or anyone with information to come forward. At around 3.30am today, Wednesday 30 January 2019, Dorset Police received a report of a disturbance involving a group of men and women near to the Shell petrol station in London Road. It was reported that two men were ...

A LIFT in Dorchester’s Corn Exchange building could be replaced – after people became stuck in it and because of rising maintenance costs. On one occasion the fire brigade had to be called to rescue two occupants who were safe, but unable to get out. The lift was installed in 2010 and, according to a report by ...