CAPTAIN Guy Shoesmith led his Hampshire PGA professionals to victory over the county assistants in the annual Jack Wells Challenge Match at Hockley. Shoesmith and his partner Steve Richardson laid down a barrage of birdies to run out comfortable victors
PORTSMOUTH chairman Milan Mandaric feels he has finally escaped the wheel-and-deal managerial world of Harry Redknapp with the appointment of Croat Velimir Zajec as permanent Pompey boss. Mandaric had set his sights on former Saints manager Gordon Strachan
GOSPORT Borough's Sydenhams Wessex League title hopes have been dealt a cruel blow. Influential skipper and midfield driving force Stuart Hensman has been forced to hang up his boots because of a potentially crippling knee injury. Assistant manager Gary
GOSPORT Borough's Sydenhams Wessex League title hopes have been dealt a cruel blow. Influential skipper and midfield driving force Stuart Hensman has been forced to hang up his boots because of a potentially crippling knee injury. Assistant manager Gary
A BID to sell cannonballs recovered from the River Hamble shoreline for £5,000 on an Internet auction website has been foiled by Hampshire police. The items were described as historic relics dating from the Tudor warship Mary Rose, pictured, on eBay.
A GROUP of bikers helped bring some festive cheer to youngsters at Basingstoke hospital with a donation of more than 200 toys. About 40 people, including bikers from the Hampshire Riders' Club and their friends and family members, took part in a Christmas
HEALTH bosses are not planning to apply for Basingstoke to become one of the next foundation hospitals - despite being invited to as it is a three-star organisation. The hospital had planned to apply for foundation status again for April 2006, after bosses
Today's Principal Arrivals: Hual Africa, ro/ro, 1200, 40; Autoprestige, ro/ro, 1500, 203; Freedom, vehicle carrier, 1830, 34/35; Kindred, cargo, PM, 36S. Today's Principal Sailings: Chikuma Reefer, refrigerated vessel, 1400, 104; OOCL Qingdao, container
A SMALL family business has revealed how the sudden collapse of construction company Benson left it £52,000 out of pocket. Father-and-son team Jeff and Damien Sharpe, pictured above, of floor specialists Flooring Inspirations say they were pressured to
LEAVING many experienced riders struggling in their wake, it is two up-and-coming young stars who are fighting it out for the top spot at the Calshot Winter League. Matt Coates from Swanmore has showed a variation in form over the winter months, not unusual
JEFF JAMES won the Southampton singles Town Championship in 1988, the same year that Alex Dunkley was born. And this year the Sarisbury Social pair teamed up for the doubles competition. James, now 60, and Dunkley are through to the last eight after beating
TROJANS have an ideal opportunity to extend their already healthy advantage at the top of the Hampshire/Surrey Regional League when the second phase of the programme starts on January 8, 2005. Four points clear at the top after a near perfect 11-match
HAMPSHIRE Under-16s have won the South County Youth Championship for the second time in three seasons after winning six of their seven matches. They clinched the title by beating Middlesex 2-0 and Buckinghamshire 3-2, with Fareham's Luke Gould and Havant's
FORMER Andover FC manager Howard Goddard has left his position as coach at Alresford Town to take charge of ailing Wessex League Division Two club Whitchurch United. The club were left without a chairman, vice chairman, manager, treasurer and secretary
FOLLOWING Andover FC at the moment is not for the faint hearted and if the goal laden football currently being served up brings the crowds back, the majority of them will be found quietly gibbering behind the main stand. Once again the Lions were involved
IT was a bitterly cold day for the National Biathlon Championships at Enfield, North London, but thankfully the rain held off. Due to a clash of dates only seven of Andover Modern Triathlon Club's ten qualifiers made it to the championships. The ground
A CASKET and ashes found floating in the River Itchen in Winchester are to be buried after a police investigation failed to find any relatives of the deceased. The remains of the woman were discovered by a walker in a part of the river that runs through
Andover Golf Club's annual Turkey Bogey competition took place recently with players keen to enter to perhaps secure a voucher to enable them to purchase additional Christmas fayre. It can be a difficult format with players trying to beat the course as
MEMBERS of the New Forest Hounds have pledged to take action to stop dead animals being left on the roadside for days on end. The local hunt has come to the rescue just weeks before new European Union regulations will dictate that the incinerator used
POLICE are hunting two men who ran off after a road accident which left a woman with serious injuries. The 28-year-old woman was taken to hospital following the accident between two cars on the eastbound Bursledon Road, near the junction with Orpen Road
ONE OF Southampton's former civic chiefs has come up with his own idea for creating Southampton's Wow factor: remodel the city's historic common as Southampton's very own Central Park. Alan Reynard, 71, who served as deputy leader on Southampton council
NOT only is this semi-detached home a dazzling treat for the eyes - but it is musical too. Tony and Karen Challis have decked their home in dozens of Christmas lights for this year's Daily Echo Haskins Festive Homes competition. As well as flashing lights
PUNCTUALITY has improved on South West Trains since the introduction of a new timetable. In its first week, punctuality averaged at 85.5 per cent, which bosses say is one of the best ever results. Last year in the same period the result was a mere 76.6
A TRIP of a lifetime to see Father Christmas turned into a nightmare for a Hampshire family after the coach they were travelling in crashed. Ten-year-old Hollie Bladen, her five-year-old brother Jacob, and their dad Jon were almost at the end of the day
CIVIC chiefs in Fareham have launched a last-ditch attempt to save the Royal Hospital Haslar - and transform it into a traditional secondary care hospital. Members of Fareham Council are to challenge Portsmouth Hospitals Trust's plans to transfer all
LOVEABLE moggie Arthur had a lucky escape after nearly choking to death in a cruel wire noose. The wandering six-week-old tabby left his owner's Hedge End home only to return with a dangerous noose of copper around his neck. Arthur's owner, Kathryn Marriner
HOW much do you know about Corvette? If you're anything like the majority of the UK population, not a lot. You might know that it's American and, if you're a child of the 1980s, you might recall that Templeton Peck, aka "Face" from The A-Team, used to
EX-SAINTS striker Ian Baird got his first view of Bashley's prolific frontman Richard Gillespie on Monday night - and liked what he saw. Gillespie went to Westleigh Park with 24 league and cup goals in his account and quickly helped himself to two more
KEYWORDS Direct are rattling in the goals. The Junior 3 promotion hunters dealt out a 14-1 thrashing to luckless Alma. Their top marksman was Dean Laxton with four goals, while a trio of his teammates - Wes Pack, Ash Holland and Dan Penfold - hit trebles
EX-SAINTS striker Ian Baird got his first view of Bashley's prolific frontman Richard Gillespie on Monday night - and liked what he saw. Gillespie went to Westleigh Park with 24 league and cup goals in his account and quickly helped himself to two more
THIS 21st century twist to a classic fairy tale sees Ella (The Princess Diaries' Anne Hathaway) given the "gift" of obedience by her Fairy Godmother at her birth. Now she does whatever she's told, no matter how dangerous, so she's determined to break
PEOPLE living in Basingstoke are receiving top quality services from Hampshire County Council for the third year running. The Audit Commission, an independent watchdog which makes sure public money is spent effectively, has rated Hampshire as "excellent
AEROSPACE group Cobham have announced the largest acquisition in its history - a £134.4m cash purchase of US-based Remec Defense & Space Inc. Buying Remec doubles Cobham's Chelton microwave military systems business in the US. Remec specialises in
MAJOR regional housebuilder Persimmon sounded an upbeat note on its prospects as it put investors on standby for another year of record annual results. Despite a more subdued market, the York-based group said it expected to meet City forecasts for profits
SHANE KELLY races on a shoestring yet he still managed to finish second in one of the prestigious national single-seater championships. The 25-year-old Eastleigh racing driver has been plagued by lack of sponsorship since he won the Jim Russell Racing
FORMULA Woman, which proved such a resounding success when it was launched earlier this year, is recruiting for 2005. The all-woman racing championship certainly caught the imagination down south with Wiltshire's Emma Hayles one of the front-runners in
A BUDDING New Milton boxer was left seething after his second professional bout was turned into an exhibition on Sunday night. Danny Goode, 24, was due to box Peter Dunn in Bethnal Green, only for his plans to be scuppered minutes before the bell. Before
Whitchurch United 3 Stockbridge 4 This local derby didn't disappoint any neutrals among the crowd as goals galore graced both nets. Off the back of a solid 4-0 win against Alresford on Tuesday the Stocks came flying out of the blocks with in-form Charlie
Winchester 25 Andover 10 CFL UK-sponsored Andover RFC travelled the short distance to local rivals Winchester, hoping to continue their recent run of good form. With four wins in their last five league games, including a 17-8 victory in the corresponding
Winterslow went back on top of Division One after a comprehensive 8-2 defeat of Wolversdene A. Even Tony Brown was unable to put a dent in the unbeaten records of Andy Snellgrove and Malcolm Cummins, although Brown got close to taking the second set from
TWO wards had to be closed and another two closely monitored after an outbreak of diarrhoea and vomiting at a hospital in Winchester. The outbreak left 34 patients suffering from symptoms caused by the highly contagious Norovirus, which is commonly referred
Two local pool players have qualified for the prestigious IPA Pool Tour 2005 and have earned the right to challenge the best players in the land. The players concerned are Rob Rasey and Jason Dixon who are members of the Andover League champions Swallow
REED Employment got into the festive spirit last week, with the opening of its refurbished offices in Wote Street, Basingstoke. A choir of 29 carol singers from Bishop Challoner School set up outside and entertained ceremony guests and passers-by alike
TREE experts are battling to contain a new disease that could devastate parts of the New Forest, the Daily Echo can reveal. Forestry Commission staff in the district have been told to keep a lookout for a powerful pathogen that attacks oak and beech trees
A HIGH-profile "three strikes and you're out" scheme, piloted at a Basingstoke school, has resulted in a massive drop in uncompleted homework. As exclusively revealed in The Monday Gazette, pupils at Fort Hill Community School in Winklebury have faced
A £500,000 extension to Whitchurch Primary School has been welcomed as a "really positive" move by delighted headteacher Remus Sawyerr. It is hoped work on the extension, which will result in the provision of two reception classrooms and an ITC suite,
Our postal service has received a barrage of criticism in recent months but supporters insist we are still getting a first class service . . . IT'S 4am and all across Southampton posties are getting up for work. Scraping the ice off their cars, they travel
Peter Pan, The Mayflower, Southampton FEW personalities are lucky enough to be known solely by their first name, but Nadia? A year ago she was simply an unknown 27-year-old Portuguese-born bank clerk from Surrey. Now, thanks to Big Brother, everyone knows
HOSPITAL chiefs in Hampshire are to investigate the controversial past of their own chief executive, the Daily Echo can reveal. Bosses at the trust that runs Southampton General Hospital will launch an inquiry into the record of Mark Hackett, who left
SOUTHAMPTON'S Oceanography Centre is to be renamed next year. From May 1 the centre will be called the National Oceanography Centre to reflect its growing importance on the national and international scene as a world leader in research. The renaming will
CONTROVERSIAL plans to create a network of so-called "tolerated" gypsy and traveller sites in Southampton are to be considered by city chiefs. The radical proposals will be examined by city bosses to deal with illegal traveller camps which have blighted
A GRATEFUL dad today said a huge "thank you" to the paramedics and medical staff who saved his life when he stopped breathing at his Southampton home. Retired carpenter and joiner Richard Densham, 57, is lucky to be alive this Christmas after collapsing
THERE'S more chance of snow falling in Barbados this Christmas than ABBA reforming so why not dig out those sparkly flares from the back of your wardrobe and see the next best thing in Voulez Vous - the World's Greatest ABBA Show live at Salisbury City
An X-Factor style competition for youngsters is coming to Southampton - and they welcome every kind of musical group from orchestras to duos, to rock and pop, for those aged between three and 21. Simon Cowell will not be there, nor will the television
ENTRIES are now being taken for the 18th Stockbridge Cross-Country Fun Event on January 9, 2005. Open to runners, joggers, walkers, mountain bikers and cyclo crossers, the event comprises eight miles of grassy, muddy tracks linked with eight miles of
A CHARITY is launching a fresh bid to win backing for a plan to create a multi-million-pound state-of-the-art housing paradise for senior citizens in Chandler's Ford. The scheme by Winchester-based charity Brendoncare would have delivered a "total care
THE January sales can't come round quick enough for Harry Redknapp, who has five players with Premiership experience at the top of his shopping list. Redknapp was clearly stunned by the performance of his team in the 5-1 drubbing by Tottenham and didn't
HARRY Redknapp has described the challenge of taking over as Saints boss as the most difficult job of his life. Redknapp admits he hadn't even thought about the challenge that would await him at Saints before he got the job because he never thought he
PEUGEOT rattled more than a few motoring cages when the 405 range appeared back in 1987. A good product from the word go, the car took on Ford and Vauxhall's medium-sized saloons, the Sierra and Cavalier, and quickly won legions of fans. That remarkably
GOALKEEPING is a passion for David Coles, Southampton FC's shot-stopping coach of six years. The 40-year-old loves his job as the man who oversees the improvement of talented 'keepers from the age of eight up to senior team level at the St Mary's-based
A GORGEOUS winter wonderland of pine trees and fairy lights featuring characters from Aladdin awaits audiences at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. In the delightful Aladdin's bazaar, children can meet Father Christmas and win a chance to appear on stage
AFTER the excitement of the pantomime season and the hilarity of Christmas Comedy Curry, January 21 sees the return of the monthly Jongleurs at The Corn Exchange in Newbury. With the headliner still under wraps, there is anticipation at the town centre
THE colour-washed Hawthorne Cottage has been extended since being built in the early 19th century, but has scope to enlarge the accommodation even further. From its location in the Hampshire hamlet of Ramsdell, Hawthorne Cottage has views over farmland
HI HO, hi ho, it's off to the New Victoria Theatre in Woking we go... to see spectacular family pantomime Snow White, starring Sam Kane as Prince Charming and his wife Linda Lusardi (pictured above) as the Wicked Queen. Kev Orkian, who many of you will
