Archive
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Overturned lorry shuts Hampshire motorway
Check the latest local traffic reports Police expect to re-open one of the main routes into Southampton by 7.30pm. The southbound carriageway of the M271 was closed this afternoon after a lorry carrying 26 tonnes of scrap metal overturned
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Boudicca lured to south coast rival
SOUTHAMPTON’S often grid-locked roads around the city’s docks could be one of the deciding factors in luring a major cruise line away from the city to arch-rival, Portsmouth. For the first time, Fred Olsen Cruise Lines is to base its 839-passenger
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Holiday downturn
AMERICAN engineering giant GE Aviation has blamed the declining number of holidaymakers for a new round of job losses at its plant in Hamble. The world’s biggest maker of aircraft engines said it would accept a maximum of 18 voluntary redundancies
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Interest rates drop to 2% - the lowest since 1939
The Bank of England has announced a further 1% cut to their base rate, which is now just 2% - the lowest in more than half a century. This is the third consecutive month that the Bank of England has slashed interest rates to ease pressure on
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We are not to blame' says New Forest Lapland boss
The man behind the doomed Lapland New Forest theme park has released a statement revelaing why the site at Matchams Lane near Ringwood was closed earlier today. The following is a statement from Victor Mears, the director of Lapland New Forest
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New Forest Blunderland closes down
08 THE CONTROVERSIAL Lapland New Forest has closed. Dorset police were called to the site this morning over fears of a public order disturbance. Police confirmed it was closing after they were called. A sign outside the entrance to the park
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Crack crime number four on our Christmas countdown
DO YOU know where this man is? That is the question being asked by Hampshire police as they try to trace Leslie Prince who should be spending Christmas in prison - instead he is on the run. Crack-a-crime for Christmas - click here
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Lapland leaves New Forest
IT’S all over. Lapland New Forest Christmas theme park has finally packed-up and left Matchams. The controversial attraction moved from its Matchams site on Thursday amid chaotic scenes when customers and the media clashed with staff. “When staff
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Elf lifts lid on Lapland New Forest
A FORMER worker at Lapland New Forest has lifted the lid on what went on behind the scenes at the troubled Christmas theme park. Daryl James, 23, of Amethyst Road, Christchurch, worked there as an elf and photographer’s helper for four days before
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Working at Matchams’s Lapland was bad for our elf
A FORMER worker at Lapland New Forest has lifted the lid on what went on behind the scenes at the troubled Christmas theme park. Daryl James, 23, of Amethyst Road, Christchurch, worked there as an elf and photographer’s helper for four days before
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The family who loved New Forest Lapland
WE’VE found them – this is the family that had a good time at Lapland New Forest! The Kinross family from Shoreham is full of praise for the much-maligned Christmas attraction and is urging others to go and see for themselves. Charles and
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Lapland New Forest owner is convicted fraudster
HE owner of the controversial Lapland New Forest is as a convicted fraudster who served time in jail for tax evasion. Victor Mears, 65, who owns the park run by his brother Henry Mears, was sentenced to three years in jail in 1986 after admitting
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Controversial New Forest Lapland attraction launches new website
ORGANISERS of the controversial Lapland New Forest have relaunched their website with a new marketing ploy telling visitors: “It’s you that makes it beautiful.” The new-look site has ditched photos showing a winter wonderland, that were not taken
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Rowdy final debate on issue of fluoride
THE debate could have run and run. Feelings ran high on both sides of the argument during a heated third and final fluoridation Question Time-style event last night, with many speakers on the panel and in the audience shouted down by hecklers
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New Forest's Lapland set to make £2m
HE controversial Lapland New Forest theme park could be set to rake in up to £2 million in the run-up to Christmas. Despite being hit by a record number of customer complaints, a walkout by staff and an official investigation by trading standards
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Double inquest set for mums who died after giving birth
THE inquest into the deaths of two women who died shortly after giving birth at a Hampshire maternity unit will be held next February. Jasmine Pickett and Amy Kimmance died of a bug within days of being patients at the Florence Portal House
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Police call on Vietnamese community to help identify body
DETECTIVES investigating the discovery of a man’s body in the back of a lorry on the M3 are calling on the Vietnamese community to help identify him. As previously reported by the Daily Echo the man’s body was found by officers from Hampshire
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Plan to spend £500 of taxpayers’ money on umbrellas slammed
HOSPITAL bosses are set to spend hundreds of pounds buying staff unbrellas in a bid to get them to walk to work. Winchester’s Royal Hampshire County Hospital chiefs want to spend £500 of taxpayers’ money on umbrellas in a bid to make its staff
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Pietersen emphasises importance of India return
England captain Kevin Pietersen was typically bullish in the face of fresh security concerns in India, insisting he is confident next week's Test in Chennai will go ahead. Indian airports were put on high alert of a terrorist attack this morning
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Row as nuclear submarine heads for city
CONTROVERSIAL nuclear submarine HMS Trafalgar is due to arrive in Southampton tomorrow. The 280ft Royal Naval sub will dock at the city's high-risk berth - Z berth - around midday. Protestors from action group Solent Coalition
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Saints set to announce new FlyBe deal
SAINTS are due to announce within the next week that their sponsorship deal with FlyBe has been extended. The airline is the club’s main sponsor and their current contract is due to expire at the end of the season. The terms are currently
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Shannon Matthews' mother guilty of kidnapping her
The mother of Shannon Matthews was found guilty today of kidnapping her own daughter. Karen Matthews, 33, of Moorside Road, Dewsbury Moor, West Yorkshire, was also convicted by a jury at Leeds Crown Court of false imprisonment and perverting
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Another 1 per cent slashed from interest rates
The Bank of England slashed interest rates by another 1% today as policymakers stepped up their battle to stave off a deep recession. The dramatic percentage point cut takes the cost of borrowing from 3% to 2% - a rate not seen since 1951 and
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Africa: voluntary donations are effective
AS we get into the spirit of Christmas, I know that many of your readers are considering making donations to charity. I therefore hope they won’t be dissuaded by the BBC Panorama programme Addicted to Aid earlier which claimed that aid from western governments
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Reports: Keane leaves Sunderland
ROY Keane has left his post as Sunderland manager according to widespread reports. Speculation was mounting on Wearside this morning that Keane and the club had decided to go seperate ways. The 37-year-old is understood to have been
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On the hunt for shark egg cases
The strandline is the line of debris left on the beach when the tide falls, it is easy to dismiss it as a heap of rotting seaweed, in some places it is mechanically cleared away to prevent smell and visual nuisance. Looking closer we start to
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Skippers prepare to dive into Southern Ocean
THE fleet are trying to get to the first ice gate, and from there they are allowed to dive south into the southern ocean. Mike Golding (Ecover) seems to have had less wind out to the west but is still leading the British skippers, and is currently in
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Vendée Britpack hit Roaring Forties
HAMPSHIRE’S round- the-world sailors have reached the most treacherous and feared part of the Vendée Globe race – the Southern Ocean. The five remaining ‘Britpack’ sailors now have the Roaring Forties to look forward to – which means gale force
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Plans for Cowes marina go ahead
AN Isle of Wight marina is sailing ahead with plans to become the “home of world yachting”, despite the credit crunch. Cowes Yacht Haven, home of Cowes Week, wants to become a world-class marina. Under new plans put forward by trustees, the marina is
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Sailing hero up for an award
HE is Britain’s most successful ever Olympic sailor and has already been named the best male sailor in the world. Now Ben Ainslie, pictured, is looking to make history again by winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Ainslie, who
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Serving up healthy foods
WITH the cold winter weather, many of your readers might feel in need of some warming comfort foods. But many traditional comfort foods can be high in fat, which is bad news for the waistline. If we are putting on weight, this can also have an impact
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I'm all for lively debate, but. . .
I WAS shocked and disappointed to see that the Echo saw fit to publish Ralph Prothero’s letter (Letters, November 29) full of such glaring inaccuracies. So public sector workers retire at 60 at the latest do they? I suggest Mr Prothero reads up on the
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Father Christmas or Scrooge?
I, LIKE many others have been waiting for a response from Eastleigh Borough Councillors why they do not support keeping travel tokens for the elderly and disabled who are unable to access public transport. The silence is deafening!!! The executive member
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In a nutshell, we feel pain to you know
GREY squirrels are beautiful, intelligent and highly adaptable animals and yet there appears to be an intolerance – even a hatred – of them by some people. Demands for their death come largely from just two sources: those with vested interests, and
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Young people today? I'll tell you what they're like.
FEELING unwell all day at the full council meeting I presented a local residents petition on trying to block off a cut-way to help prevent anti social behaviour from some young. At the end of a long day leaving the civic centre I came over faint and
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Watching out for the fluoride
IT must be many years now since the television commercial introduced me to toothpaste with the new magic ingredient, fluoride. Soon I was won over, soon everyone, it seems, was won over. We associated fluoride with happiness and health, with freedom
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Growing mountain of rubbish prompts anger from residents
IT started as a row over two sacks of rubbish and has developed into a mountain of mess. Residents at a block of flats in Hampshire have been left fuming because binmen have been refusing to take away their rubbish for almost a month.
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Final push for national park
SOUTH Downs campaigners are launching a postcard campaign in the final big push for a national park. Nearly a quarter of a million postcards have been printed, which the South Downs Campaign (SDC) is distributing. It is urging people to send
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A shocking toll of motorcyclists death and injury
SHOCKING new figures, showing that almost 200 motorcyclists have been killed or seriously injured on Hampshire’s roads, have sparked a safety campaign. The statistics have been taken from accidents involving bikers specifically at T-junctions
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Barney offers to fight for free!
Matthew Barney is so determined to secure a British title rematch against Hampshire rival Dean Francis he has offered to fight him for free! Barney, the former WBU world light-heavyweight and British super-middleweight champion from Southampton
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Santa Claus is coming to town
EXCITED youngsters will have the chance to meet Father Christmas when he arrives at a Southampton shopping centre complete with horses, elves and huskies. Pulled on his sleigh by white horses and accompanied by his elf helpers Santa will be
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Little piggies feeling perky and glad they’re not turkeys
PIGS in blankets are something of a Christmas tradition, but these cute little porkers won’t be turning up on dinner plates on December 25. Manor Farm Country Park in Bursledon has seen the arrival of 19 Wessex saddleback piglets in just two
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Over 300 homes to be built on greenfield
CONTROVERSIAL plans to put more than 300 homes on a Hampshire greenfield site have been given the go-ahead. The decision comes just five years after similar plans were thrown out by Fareham’s planning bosses amid fierce protests from local
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Poortvliet keen to keep loan stars
SAINTS head coach Jan Poortvliet is eager to extend some of their loan deals until the end of the season. There are currently six players on temporary contracts at St Mary’s, with FIVE of those due to return to their parent clubs at the end of this
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Paine overwhelmed at warmth of Saints fans
TERRY Paine says he has been “overwhelmed” by the response of supporters to his visit from South Africa. The Saints legend has flown over for a few weeks to promote his biography, Constant Paine. It is a rare sight of the former England star on his
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Crouch planned to back Saints' academy
LEON Crouch has revealed his masterplan for Saints to satisfy the bank manager in 2008/09 contained the first team squad being based mainly around the club’s academy and reserve players. Jan Poortvliet has fielded some of the youngest starting
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Teen refused to leave dock after verdict
IT took five officers to prise a Southampton teenager out of the dock after he had been convicted of affray. Shouting that he wanted to comfort his mother who was crying hysterically in the public gallery, the 17-year-old refused to leave.
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Homeless ‘need healthcare help’
HOMELESS people across Hampshire should receive better access to healthcare in future, say NHS bosses. Hampshire Primary Care Trust (PCT) is looking at ways of more effectively helping the homeless, who are 40 times more likely not to be registered
