DJ Steve joins the online auction revolution and eventually gets his sofa . . . IT'S 10am and Wave 105 presenter Steve Power has been up since the crack of dawn, starting his show from the station's Segensworth studios at 5.30am. You'd expect him to be
JUSTIN Rose ended his long wait for a win when took the $42,000 first prize in a skins tournament at the DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi. The 24-year-old Hampshire golfer beat off a challenge from British Open champion Todd Hamilton and US PGA
DAVID Malone denies he is heading for Newport - but he hasn't ruled out the possibility of getting involved with the Isle of Wight club after quitting FA Vase winners Winchester City last week. The Winchester-based businessman owns a house on the Island
THERE were fresh reports today that Harry Redknapp could be about to lose his trusted No 2 Jim Smith. Redknapp has endured a tough time in the last week following the arrival of executive director Velemir Zajec. Redknapp continues to deny his job is in
KEEPER Mark Brown was the shoot-out hero as Gosport Borough beat Havant & Waterlooville in the Hampshire Senior Cup last night. Brown pulled off two saves as the Wessex League side won 4-1 on penaltis after a 2-2 draw at Westleigh Park. He saved penalties
KEEPER Mark Brown was the shoot-out hero as Gosport Borough beat Havant & Waterlooville in the Hampshire Senior Cup last night. Brown pulled off two saves as the Wessex League side won 4-1 on penaltis after a 2-2 draw at Westleigh Park. He saved penalties
AUSTRALIAN all-rounder Simon Katich is poised to return to the Rose Bowl next summer. The Hampshire player-of-the-year for 2003, who was controversially dropped for last week's Brisbane Test match against New Zealand at the Gabba, is planning to sign
The resounding public thumbs down to a proposal for a regional assembly in the North East has been greeted with delight by Cllr Ken Thornber, leader of Hampshire County Council. Cllr Thornber has long been a staunch opponent of the idea of a similar assembly
WORK by Basingstoke council to meet housing needs in the borough has earned it a nomination to become an elite "Beacon Council". Inclusion on the shortlist, drawn up by a Government agency, indicates that the borough council's approach to delivering affordable
A BID for city status could be on the cards for Basingstoke if the town continues to go from strength to strength. The interesting prospect was raised during a presentation at The ARK, at Basingstoke hospital. Glyn Williams, head of policy and partnerships
Can career women have it all? One businesswoman in Hampshire shows that it is possible to have a high-flying job and raise a family at the same time... IT HAS traditionally been thought of as a male-dominated business, but the reality is that many women
JUST two days to go - and counting! Nearly 300 firms and organisations across the south have been nominated for the first annual Southampton Centre for Independent Living (SCIL) business and community awards in Hampshire, which take place on Thursday.
NATIONAL Enterprise Week was celebrated in Hampshire in a unique way by the Institute of Directors. It invited local companies to take tables at a dinner and give half their places away to 18-25-year-olds. The dinner, which attracted more than 150 people
HEAVYWEIGHT boxer Billy Bessey has made a winning return after more than three years out of the ring. The former ABA champion had sparred more than 100 rounds in preparation for his comeback clash with Gambia's Ebrima Secka in Bracknell and put that to
CASH-strapped health bosses overpaid five consultants by a total of £290,000, the Daily Echo can reveal. The senior medics were given money to which they were not entitled because of human error in the payroll department at the Royal Hampshire County
BOROUGH bosses have backed detailed plans for a replacement secondary school in Basingstoke - one which will boast state-of-the-art information technology facilities. The new John Hunt of Everest School - earmarked for land at Wellfield Farm, Sherborne
MEDICAL research charity Hope is more than £100,000 better off thanks to a donation by the Freemasons' Grand Charity. The money is to be used for meningitis research and was handed over to Professor John Heckels at the Southampton University laboratories
TELEVISION newsreaders Fred Dinenage and Sally Taylor have pledged their support to help the lives of millions of people in the Wessex region. Fred and Sally put their names to the Daily Echo-backed Wessex Wills campaign, which asks you to help make a
WITH some of the audience resplendent in period costume, we were treated to a traditional music hall evening of entertainment including songs, monologues, duets, sketches and a mind reading act extraordinaire, all watched over by a portrait depicting
HUNDREDS of people in Hampshire were today in shock after being told that the value of their company pension has been wiped out by up to 80 per cent. Staff at electronics company APW were left in tears when management informed them their pensions were
SAINTS and England ace James Beattie was kicked out of a bar and officially warned by police after a disturbance - which all started when the striker "stuck his face in a bowl of muffins". The football star was warned under the Public Order Act after
A VISION of how Southampton's libraries could be reshaped to meet readers' needs in the 21st century has been unveiled by city leisure chiefs. Southampton's Central Library could be open 24 hours a day with all of the city's other libraries open at least
A PREMIERSHIP footballer has spoken out in a bid to stop the deportation of a friend and countryman who he believes will face almost certain death if he returns to their homeland. Portsmouth striker Lomana Tresor Lua Lua has thrown his weight behind a
THE Red Lion at Totton has turned its reputation around and is now a bustling centre for live music. This month sees a host of bands taking to the stage, including talented soul/RnB band Rufus Stone, on Saturday.
A HISTORIC Hampshire mill has reopened after undergoing a £1m transformation into shops and a museum. Hundreds of thousands of pounds has been ploughed into renovating Chesapeake Mill in Wickham, a Grade II listed building that was put on the market by
IT WAS more than 20m long, weighed up to 50 tonnes - and is about 130 million years old. Bones from the biggest dinosaur so far discovered in the UK have been unearthed on the Isle of Wight. Fossil-hunters made the crucial find along a stretch of beach
PLANS by health chiefs in Fareham and Gosport for a drastic overhaul of NHS services in the towns will come under scrutiny at two special meetings this week. Members of Hampshire's health review committee are to decide whether they are satisfied that
MAJOR inroads have been made into driving abandoned cars off streets across Eastleigh, council chiefs have claimed. The problem of dumped old bangers was accelerating so fast that it was in danger of reaching epidemic proportions. At one time the council
SAINTS are ignoring speculation regarding the future of head coach Steve Wigley. Saturday's 2-1 defeat at Norwich has provoked fresh reports claiming that Saints must win Saturday's home clash against Crystal Palace to save Wigley. But Saints chairman
A mother has spoken of her anguish for her daughter, who, at the age of 13, weighs almost 20 stone... A DESPERATE mother fears her 13-year-old daughter, who weighs 19 and a half stone, may die if she doesn't stop eating. Natalie Cox who wears size 30
Eating the right food can literally change your life and help you on the road to recovery. Kate Thompson talks to food expert Barbara Cox about the importance of good nutrition... NUTRITIONIST Barbara Cox knows precisely how important it is for cancer
MATT BLACKEY is ready to hit the European Tour running after dramatically regaining his card in San Roque. Two birdies in his last three holes catapulted the Southampton golfer back on to next year's Tour, but as Blackey admitted afterwards: "There is
SOUTHAMPTON golfer Dean Plant is selling shares in himself in a bid to get started on the UK tournament circuit. Plant's three-year plan is to play the EuroProTour followed by the Challenge Tour then the lucrative European Tour. The youngster, who has
HOUND residents are hostile to plans for hundreds of homes in fields close to their village. Traffic fears dominated a public meeting to discuss plans for 600 homes on a 64-acre site west of Hamble Lane separating Bursledon and Southampton. Barratt Homes
HEART care in the Hart region has received a boost with the purchase of a piece of portable equipment that can spot disease early on. The £56,000 cardiac echo system, which has been bought by the Blackwater Valley and Hart Primary Care Trust, will be
Today's Principal Arrivals: CFF Seine, roro, 0530, 30; Hamburg Express, container, 0630, 207; Freedom, vehicle, 0630, 34/35; Arroyofrio Dos, roro, 0930, 105; Bladerunner Two, barge, am, 25; Autosky, roro, 1800, 46 Today's Principal Sailings: CFF Seine
WIND energy is set to reap £7 billion of investment in the next six years according to a new report and a south coast company is set to take a significant slice of the action. Already a business expanding rapidly, figures from the British Wind Energy
BRITISH American Tobacco's bid to boost its foothold in China, the world's biggest cigarette market, has been undermined by the state cigarette company. The major Southampton employer has ambitious expansion plans and thought it had won the backing of
OUTSPOKEN business leader Digby Jones visited Southampton for a meeting with top businessmen and local entrepreneurs. The CBI chief chaired a discussion at Southampton Enterprise Hub looking at solutions to some of the region's business issues and how
SOLENT Stars women maintained their promising start to the National Basketball League Division 1 campaign with a convincing 68-33 victory over London Capitals at Fleming Park. Playing their first game at the Eastleigh venue this season, Stars took a while
MARKS off The Needles continue to produce some excellent cod. New Milton fisherman Barry Hobbs was the latest person to sample the action when he went afloat on the Lymington-based boat 'Tompkat', skippered by John Skeggs. Hobby used squid to tempt the
VILLAGERS near Winchester fear a traffic calming scheme may actually be increasing danger for pedestrians. People in Twyford say the measures, which included the removal of a traffic island on Main Road, has done little to slow traffic. The £120,000 county
AFTER nearly five years of cobwebs and locked doors, the Daily Echo's Winchester office will once again be open to the public. The ground floor of Echo House, as 5 Upper Brook Street is known, has not been in commercial use since the News Extra left in
THE future of a vital New Forest rail link could be in jeopardy unless alternative backing can be secured, it was revealed yesterday. Transport secretary Alistair Darling has backed plans which named the Lymington to Brockenhurst line among 56 rural routes
LORRIES are to be banned from using a New Forest village centre as a shortcut. An exclusion zone is being created to stop lorries shortening their journey to Marchwood's residential industrial estates and military port by using residential roads.. However
A liner disaster and a football team are the two stongest images of Southampton in the minds of outsiders, according to an Echo survey... IT HAS an "uninviting smell of fish" with a cold damp wind coming off the sea. Schooner sails flap in the wind and
THERE are very few eccentrics left in Hollywood these days - but it would be possible to argue the case that the actor Billy Bob Thornton is one of them. He has a fear of antiques - worrying when he comes to London because it's full of them - and insists
NICK Faldo is Britain's greatest-ever golfer - revered as a hero for his six Major titles and record as the leading points scorer in Ryder Cup history. But many also regard him as a selfish, emotionally-cold loner to whom winning tournaments came first
FEW albums have had as traumatic a genesis as Smile, the Beach Boys' legendary "lost" follow-up to Pet Sounds. Brian Wilson, the genius who had transformed the Beach Boys from purveyors of feel-good, sunshine-splashed pop to the Beatles' only serious
YOU will be hearing a lot more from local band Kalimoto over the next few months. If you visit the HMV or Virgin record stores in Festival Place, Basingstoke, you'll find the group's debut album on sale. Live performances in the South of England are in
TRY as he may, former Radio 1 and present Classic FM DJ Simon Bates can never escape the ghost of Our Tune, the segment on his morning show in which members of the public wrote in about their relationships. Read out with their names altered and accompanied
RALPH McTell loves to talk about his obsession with music. A remarkably skilled folk musician (pictured) who has been fated to go down in history as "the man who wrote Streets of London", he's still passionate about the process of writing tunes after
THE most common picture you will find of Jeremy Vine on the internet is a serious one - arms crossed, and only the faintest hint of a smile. Add to this a reputation as a shrewd political reporter who some people said was too aggressive to take on Jimmy
Tim Burton is the only director to whom I have a dedicated DVD section. Save for his treatment of Planet of the Apes, there hasn't been a single project he has worked on that I haven't loved. From Beetlejuice through Batman, Batman Returns, Mars Attacks
Captain Adrian Thompson gives his personal account of Concorde's historic last flight from Heathrow to New York. "I climb into my seat for the final flight to New York and feel the familiar frisson of excitement - but it fails to replace the sense of
DICKENS' A Christmas Carol forms the basis of this musical by Malcolm Sircom. The production involved 25 or so actors, most of whom played several of the 62 roles. There was a mix of musical styles, from the conventional to rap and rock'n'roll. A local
POLICE have confirmed the mother of tragic toddler Louie Bowers was not at home when the blaze that claimed his life broke out. Louie died after the blaze broke out in the bedroom he shared with his brother at a maisonette in Weston. Last night officers
A NEW public transport guide has been published in a bid to get Southampton people going from A to B in a more environmentally friendly way. The public transport map and guide highlights local bus, rail and ferry travel routes, as well as details about
THIS is just one weapon from a haul of guns that was bought with frightening ease at the click of a button. Potentially lethal weapons including handguns, stun guns and rounds of ammunition were recovered by police officers in Hampshire after they were
A SOUTHAMPTON college has been praised for its high teaching standards, strong leadership and community outreach work by Ofsted inspectors. During their five-day visit to Itchen College they found the quality of education and training to be good in seven
The Beta Band The BIC, Bournemouth SOME bands explode on to the stage and literally shake their audience from start to finish. Others will take dedicated fans on a journey through a collection of their finest moments and reveal hidden talents never truly
DAVID Malone denies he is heading for Newport - but he hasn't ruled out the possibility of getting involved with the Isle of Wight club after quitting FA Vase winners Winchester City last week. The Winchester-based businessman owns a house on the Island
THE much-anticipated gig by rock band Clinic, due to take place at the Railway in Winchester tonight, has been cancelled. The gig had been rescheduled from earlier in the year. The band's entire UK tour has been cancelled due to band member Ade Blackburn's
YOUNGSTERS at a school near Fareham are singing their way to a set of new classrooms. A total of 76 five-to-11-year-olds from the Swanmore Primary School choir have put their voices to a Christmas CD being released in a bid to raise thousands towards
IT'S been whipping through Fair Oak's Wyvern Technology College like the plague as dozens of staff and pupils have succumbed to an outbreak of ZARS. But thankfully, its symptoms involve nothing more than receiving a nasty sticker. Year 9 and 10 science
