GARY Topley lifted a personal best in his fourth-placed finish in the World Powerlifting Championships. The Salisbury powerlifter flew out to America last week where he competed in the 100kg Men’s Open Class at West Palm Beach Box Convention Centre
TWENTY-EIGHT pupils from Chafyn Grove School went on a rugby and hockey tour to the Republic of Ireland. The school pupils had training sessions at Limerick University before the girls competed in hockey matches and the boys played rugby. Girls
SLOW-MOVING Verwood Town will aim to bury their league woes when their FA Vase expedition gets back under way. The Potters have the favourable home advantage on Saturday for the visit of South West Peninsula League outfit Plymouth Parkway (3pm)
FORDINGBRIDGE firefighters will be taking on a Mount Everest challenge with a difference to boost funds for Southampton General Hospital. The crew will be climbing the equivalent height of Mount Everest – 8,848 metres – using a ladder to climb
A REGRETTABLE first half display from Salisbury Hockey firsts saw them fall to a disappointing 5-2 defeat against Havant thirds. The Lower Bemerton outfit have struggled away from home this season and their trip to Barncroft Way was no different
BELLRINGERS from Fordingbridge struck the right notes and won instant appeal at a concert they gave residents and their families at a Bournemouth care home. Six women from Fordingbridge Handbell Ringers played a tuned set of 12 bells at Colten
POLICE are appealing for information after 20,000 litres of diesel were stolen from Churchfields depot, Salisbury. Some time between October 31 and November 3, offenders forced entry to the site to steal the fuel, worth about £25,000. Anyone
RINGWOOD Town Council has installed a defibrillator at its Gateway building. Councillor Christine Ford suggested the machine’s location at a meeting of the council. She said: “This is wonderful news. We know that access to a defibrillator in
Meet Me At The Waldorf was the title of our lecture held on November 11, delivered by Mary Alexander. “A huge part of the joy of lecturing for me is sharing and communicating a life-long passion for the visual arts", she said, and this was certainly
SPECIALIST mental health care provider Choice Care Group has opened a new care home in Salisbury – its 50th to date. Holmhurst, which opened in October, has eight en-suite bedrooms and a self-contained annex that allows people who enjoy living
THIS was the scene when a 15,000-strong crowd packed out the Market Place to watch the city’s Christmas lights switch-on ceremony last night. The event had been planned right down to the last detail by the organisers who were guaranteed a full
THE city council is today launching a full investigation into the fireworks accident that marred the Salisbury Christmas lights switch-on last night. A spokesman for Salisbury City Council said: “During the firework element of the event, at approximately
RINGWOOD residents living close to the River Avon are being urged to keep their ditches and waterways clear in a bid to stop flooding. Rising water from the Avon and high ground water levels have put homes at risk over several winters. And
GOVERNMENT ministers have been warned that changes to the planning rules could jeopardise attempts to provide more social housing in the New Forest National Park. Developers building ten properties or fewer will no longer have to include an element
TWENTY-four members attended the November meeting in Dinton Village Hall. Discussions of a variety of events taking place in the future followed, including a visit to Waitrose for a cookery demonstration in December. Speaker Sue West, whose
PHOEBE Merrick gave a talk on the Romsey Remount Depot, which was set up at the start of the First World War. The camp was to the South of the A3090 with a large corral complex on Ryedown Lane. The Romsey depot had a complement of over 2,000 men
MP Dr Andrew Murrison is backing Ludwell Village Stores in the tenth annual ‘Rural Oscars’ – aka the Countryside Alliance Awards. The awards will offer a special Champion of Champions scheme in their tenth year, and Dr Murrison is urging the public
HELLO everyone and welcome to this week’s Journal Gang page. Here is a picture of my friend Lily Burt enjoying herself at the Gruffalo Child’s Trail at Moors Valley Country Park. I was pleased to see so many of you last week getting out and supporting
THE only surviving Gurkha recipient of the Victoria Cross Captain Rambahadur Limbu VC was in Salisbury on Tuesday with his wife and son (also an ex-Gurkha) to visit The Gurkha Welfare Trust’s head office in Queen Street. Now living permanently
DETECTIVES investigating the death of a Poole Hospital nurse believe the weapon was hidden in the Ringwood area shortly after the killing of 44-year-old Rui Li. Teams of officers have been combing the area for a specific item in a number of locations
A SURVEY about Downton’s neighbourhood plan will be delivered to every home in the village. One man – Adam Hayward – had been tasked with the job and was being sponsored to cycle, walk and run to 1,400 letterboxes throughout the parish to raise
DRIVERS in Hampshire will now have access to electric charging points for their vehicles, including one at the Furlong car park in Ringwood. Others have been installed at Romsey Rapids Leisure Centre car park, the Esso petrol station in Bridge
HUNDREDS of pupils across Dorset and the New Forest played their part in a heroic mission to help Britain’s children. With a superhero theme, this year the BBC’s Children in Need has been fundraising to beat last year’s UK total of £49.6 million
A DIY retailer has announced it is not due to close its Salisbury store, potentially safeguarding around 25 jobs. Homebase in Southampton Road will continue to trade despite the firm announcing that one in four stores would close in the next three
AMESBURY Referral Group (ARG) is hosting a visitors’ day on Tuesday, November 25, to celebrate its second anniversary at Antrobus House. ARG meets on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month, and members work to support each other by growing
CONSERVATION and research projects across the region could be given a boost through an environmental support scheme being re-launched by Wessex Water. Organisations are being encouraged to apply to the company’s Partners Programme, which provides
THE club meets at Royal British Legion, Endless St (opposite the old bus station). They play duplicate every Friday at 7pm and hold partners drives at 7pm on the first and third Mondays of the month. The club had 14 tables on Friday. Sonia
TWENTY members and friends of the Salisbury-Xanten Twinning Association (SXTA) visited the Houses of Parliament. They learned the building, built in 1097, is almost the only part of the Palace of Westminster surviving in near original form. High-profile
THE recent meeting was opened at 2.30pm by our president Olive Lane, after we sang Jerusalem. Our speaker was Gordan Brockman of Chippenham, who gave a very entertaining and informative talk entitled The Life of an Auctioneer. The meeting closed
AT the meeting of the society on Monday, November 17 at 7.30pm in Wilton Community Centre members heard a talk by Henry Cole entitled The Beaulieu Birdmen. This is the story of the 1910 New Forest Flying School including its role during the Great
AS I do every year, I went to the War Memorial in the Guildhall Square. I look forward to this every year: the 11th hour, the 11th day, the 11th month. I am an 86-year-old ex-Royal Engineer. It was very sad for me, remembering the fallen
SOME drivers DO abuse disabled parking. Karen Muir (Postbag, November 13) falls into the trap of attacking those who are offended by blatant misuse of Blue Badges and try to raise awareness, by telling us that, “not all drivers abuse disabled parking
I AM writing to complain most strongly about the actions of the Stagecoach driver at Britford park-and-ride around midday on Wednesday, November 5. No sooner had I retrieved my bus pass from the shelf than the driver accelerated so fast it catapulted
I AM currently looking for a good agent to promote my work, after receiving five awards, three with honours and two with second places, for my writing. I am 71 years old and I’ve been writing for 25 years now, and it is just beginning to pay off
A KEY Hampshire health service is facing a jobs crisis with more than 250 vacancies to fill. South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) bosses said they are under extreme pressure to answer calls because of a lack of 260 paramedics. And the NHS
NEW Forest residents are being urged to lend a hand this Christmas to help support families and individuals in food crisis. Food banks are in need of volunteers to help with Christmas collections at supermarkets, especially in the first weekend
SALISBURY’S Waitrose store has re-opened after a major refit – and now has many “firsts” for the chain. The shop has the chain’s first cookery school outside London, and the first set of changing rooms to allow customers to try on their John Lewis
THE band was proud to lead the Standards of The Royal British Legion at Salisbury’s Carnival on October 24. Last weekend, members of bands from across the UK participated in acts of Remembrance organised by The Royal British Legion. Our band
THE half-yearly meeting of the Downland Group of WIs was held at the Radnor Hall, Bodenham. President Edna Pike welcomed members from the group’s four Institutes, Odstock Nunton and Bodenham, Alderbury, Downton, and Landford Hamptworth and Nomansland
I AM looking for any former members who reside in Salisbury District of the following regiments: the Glosters, Royal Berkshire, Wiltshire Regiments, Duke of Edinburgh’s Royal Regiment and the Royal Gloucester, Berkshire and Wiltshire Regiment, with
MY husband received yet another parking fine yesterday. We live in Albany Road, where parking is at a premium and there are more cars than spaces. My husband is an international business manager so goes abroad a lot. He often returns at 11pm
A FUNERAL route was lined by 30 dogs wanting to pay their respects to Jenny Clarke, who set up the East Dorset canine charity Woofability. AE Joliffe & Son – part of Dorset’s Douch Family Funeral Directors – said they had never organised anything
BURLEY’S new lifesaving defibrillator had to be called into action after a man collapsed in the village – even before the piece of equipment was officially launched. The public access defibrillator (PAD) was called upon by an off-duty doctor who
STORIES of a big carp cruising around Cottage Lake at Witherington Farm Fishery have been proved to be true. Carp angler Nigel Tupper fished the lake at the weekend and landed a mirror carp which was photographed and weighed in front of witnesses
PYLONS in the National Park could be torn down as part of a £500m scheme to reclaim some of the New Forest’s most cherished countryside. The National Grid will investigate proposals to bury hundreds of miles of high voltage lines underground to
SHOPPERS in Ringwood can help boost funds for the Royal British Legion by recycling their poppies. The Sainsbury’s store will have a collection point at the customer service desk. The service will run until Monday, November 24.
GET into the festive spirit at Ringwood Waldorf School’s Christmas Bazaar. The event takes place at the school on Saturday, December 6, from 11am till 4pm. There will be a variety of craft stalls as well as live festive music, carol singing
SIX people were arrested last night for theft, drink driving and drugs offences in a cross-border crackdown by police in Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. Operation Midas targeted thieves who use the cover of darkness to commit crime in rural areas
