dorset

Curtis Lancaster and Linzi KinghornSouth of EnglandBBCSchool children teamed up with soldiers to put together the care packages"Christmas is really difficult when there's not someone sat at the dinning room table," said the founder of a charity that supports children with parents in the armed forces.Louise Fetigan set up Little Troopers in 2011 and over the festive period her team of volunteers meets in Bovington Camp, Dorset to make thousands of "Christmas Smiles" boxes for military children.She said:…

Police have warned drivers not to let festive sparkle blind them to road safety after pulling over a car decked out with Christmas lights.Officers from Poole in Dorset spotted the vehicle while out on patrol and posted a warning to motorists on Facebook. "The driver was stopped and given words of advice about the traffic offences he was committing and also reminded about the seriousness of celebrating Christmas before December," the post said. "Displaying red light to the…

Indy Almroth-WrightSouth of EnglandCharlene HalseyThe little bird was spotted sheltering from the rain on the 16th deck of the shipA rare bird endangered across the UK has been rescued after taking shelter from heavy rain on a cruise ship. The corncrake, an RSPB red-listed bird, was spotted on the 16th deck of Sky Princess by passenger Charlene Halsey and her daughters "shivering" under the step of a hot tub as it travelled to Portland, Dorset.After regularly checking on…

Residents have been encouraged to attend a health event where they can air their concerns about changes to local hospital services.The drop-in session organised by University Hospitals Dorset (UHD), will run from 10:00 GMT to 16:00 at the Gather space in Poole's Dolphin Centre.It will raise awareness of the ongoing £500m transformation programme taking place at UHD sites, which include making Royal Bournemouth Hospital the county's "major emergency centre".James Donald, the associate director of communications for UHD said…

A mum has said she was left shocked after being told it was "unacceptable" to breastfeed her two-year-old daughter in a shoe shop.Venus Neda was shopping with her family in Poole on Tuesday when she said her daughter became "hungry and unsettled" in Valentina Beautiful Shoes.The 34-year-old said she found a spot that she felt "wasn't so in people's faces" but was asked to stop breastfeeding.The shop apologised in a post on Facebook, adding that they wanted "everyone,…

The RSPCA is warning of a surge in animal abandonment as winter approaches, with cases rising sharply in parts of the south. In Dorset, reports are up by 18.4% this year, with 187 incidents logged by the end of October compared to 158 last year. Berkshire had seen 147 cases by the end of October, similar to the whole last year's figure, but still part of a growing national trend.Across England and Wales, 24,270 abandonment incidents have been…

A charity set up to promote sustainable farming has launched a fundraising campaign to protect one of the UK's most endangered mammals.The Countryside Regeneration Trust, which owns three farms in Surrey, wants to raise £6,000 for equipment to monitor populations of dormice in the county.Conservationists believe dormouse populations have crashed by 70% in the last 25 years, becoming extinct in 14 counties, due to habitat loss.The trust wants to use 250 footprint monitoring tunnels to track their movements…