Slimming World members across Dorchester, Weymouth and Portland have raised an estimated £14,000 for Cancer Research UK by donating clothes, shoes and accessories that no longer fit after their weight loss. As part of their annual Big Clothes Throw campaign, members filled 473 bags with pre-loved items – beating last year’s total of 386 bags. […]
Brothers who used to visit a landmark pub with their parents have saved it for the community seven years after it shut its doors. Ross and David Hunt were both born in Weymouth and grew up there, before launching the Longshore development company together as adults. So when they saw Osmington’s The Sunray struggling, and […]
A massive waste incinerator on Portland is ‘on track’ to start operating by 2030. Powerfuel Portland says contracts to enable the operation are ‘well advanced’. However Dorset Council leader Nick Ireland said: “The council has consistently opposed the incinerator from the outset, including refusing the original planning application and continuing to raise serious concerns through […]
An incredible £300,000 was raised at a gala dinner for Dorset County Hospital Charity’s Emergency and Critical Care Appeal, organised by Queen Camilla’s sister Annabel Elliot and other high profile Dorset residents. The dinner, held at Chettle House, saw 300 distinguished guests attending the Gala including appeal patron Kate Adie, Martin and Philippa Clunes, Julian […]
Many clubs and societies are seeing membership in freefall, due to modern lifestyles, and particularly after the pandemic. But the enthusiasts of the West Dorset Vintage Tractor and Stationary Engine Club, which celebrated its 50th anniversary in January, are still going strong – with an incredible 250 members aged from teens to 90s. Not only […]
From a young age, Mark Drapper struggled to read and write – but engines were his playground. His mum Ruth, who has home schooled all 11 of her children, saw that her ninth child had a natural talent that couldn’t be taught in traditional classrooms. She tailored his curriculum to nurture his practical skills – […]
Surfers Against Sewage is using Church Cliff Beach in Lyme Regis as a key case study in a high-court legal challenge against new UK government regulations. The Government is introducing a rule, Core Reform 2, that any beach or water body with poor water quality could be barred from applying for bathing water status because […]
A Dorchester NHS worker has helped deliver life-saving treatment to 175 animals in a remote region of Sri Lanka. Zara G-King, 37, an operating department practitioner at Dorset County Hospital, played a key role in organising a three-day spay and neuter clinic in Yala, a remote safari region with no access to veterinary care, alongside […]
Villagers are demanding a halt to controversial housing developments in and around Charminster following ‘the worst flooding in living memory’. Roads were blocked for several days, homes were flooded and rising waters blighted the parish church for the second time in 12 years. And incensed residents claim more development will exacerbate flooding further. About 80 […]
We are Bird Media – two experienced journalists who have decided to break free and launch
their own news publication The West Dorset Magazine.
Editor Miranda Robertson has worked for a number of local papers, including the Dorset Echo, Salisbury Journal and The New Blackmore Vale. She lives in Maiden Newton with her husband Peter, son Robert, jug PugsieMfanwy, pug Hugo and the ginger ninja Kitten Mitten.
Karen Bate has worked for the Salisbury Journal, Wiltshire Living Magazine, Bournemouth Echo and The New Blackmore Vale. She lives with husband Stuart, daughter Florence, dogs Sir Alfred Sticks and Buddy and cat Milton. There’s also a bonkers horse called Mars in her menagerie.
