CONGRATULATIONS to the Dorset Echo! Its circulation in the second half of 2009 went up by 2.1 per cent to 18,396. According to The Guardian, the Echo is the only regional daily in the country to increase its circulation; according to the Echo itself, it’s “just one of two titles in the industry to grow [...]

EDDIE COLFOX has been flying for 17 years. Early on he used to compete nationally and was top of the league, when he broke his back. The earthbound days following left him with plenty of time to reflect, and he decided that exploration was more his scene. He’s since spent many winters guiding expeditions abroad, [...]

A FILM about the heights and frights of paragliding is to be shown at Bridport’s Electric Palace to raise funds for Dorset’s only indoor skate and cycle park. The Trick Factory on St Michael’s Trading Estate in Bridport has seen countless risky moves tried out, but probably none that can really compare with chucking yourself off [...]

SO, THIS MORNING, the Bridport News and the View From Bridport began their Wednesday wrestling bout. In the blue corner, the BN – 40p, published by Newsquest (owned by the giant American corporation Gannett), 64 pages (including 10 of the crucial property pages),  physically smaller than the VF.   In the red corner, the VF, published by [...]

“FOR THOU knowest not…” was the title of a sermon preached by Evershot’s priest after a fire in 1865 nearly burned the whole village down. More than 100 people were left homeless; up to 1,000 came from neighbouring villages to gawp at the devastation; and there was looting, yes looting, in Evershot. At the very least a [...]

  WEST DORSET District Council is making a big effort to win support for plans for the revamp of Dorchester town centre, and below – word for word – are two press releases issued today. Why word for word? Because on big issues like this, hours and hours of effort goes into producing press releases, and if you regard them as rhetorical [...]

THE SEARCH has begun for a new use for a relic of Dorset’s social struggles. Ten interested parties have been shown around the empty Institute in East Street, Bridport, by members of the Bridport Area Development Trust, which has got six months to find a modern purpose for the historic property. “We’re still in the very early stages,” said Crystal Johnson of the [...]

THE Bridport News and the Lyme Regis News will appear in future on Wednesdays. The move is announced on the papers’ website but not (that I can see) in the papers themselves. The shift means the two Newsquest publications will come out on the same morning as the free newspapers View From Bridport, View From Beaminster [...]

TANTALISING PROMISES of goods and services are flowing in to the appeal to Keep Bridport Museum Free. Offers so far include portrait photography by George Wright, a £100 restaurant voucher, pottery and bread-making lessons, a guided walk along the Jurassic Coast, and a police security check. Pledges will be auctioned at Bridport Arts Centre on [...]

BRIDPORT is to host the UK’s first ever Hat Festival. It could become the world’s biggest celebration of headwear and millinery, and it should provide an additional incentive for tourists to visit Dorset in the early autumn. The plans are being backed by some of the industry’s biggest names. The first Hatfest will run for three [...]