1. NEWS
Tuesday February 11, 2014 / 3fb.com/bournemouthdailyecho
bournemouthecho.co.uk/news
Oh buoy, look what’s washed up
A BRIGHT yellow buoy
washed up from the sea at
Branksome Beach is now
heading back ‘home’.
Dorset residents flocked to
take a look at the one-ton
buoy, usually found further
out to sea, before it was
attended to by Wessex Water.
Workmen used a flatbed
and crane to lift it off the
sands of the beach, ready to
move it and reinstate it into
the sea today.
It comes just days after a
red buoy was washed up on
Sandbanks Beach due to the
high tides brought to the
South coast last week.
Borough of Poole took to
their Facebook page
yesterday to say that work is
being carried out to clear the
prom along Branksome
Beach of sand, to make it
passable following the
recent storms.
However, they said that
with more storms forecast,
they asked for residents’
patience as the sand may get
blown back up onto the
prom.
NEWS IN BRIEF
Flasher’s
guilty plea
BOURNEMOUTH: A flasher has
pleaded guilty to deliberately
exposing himself in Poole last
June, and possessing indecent
images of children.
Bournemouth Crown Court
heard Mark Lemon, 56,
admitted one count of
exposure dated June 6, and
four counts of possessing
indecent photographs,
although he denied one
further charge of exposure,
which was accepted by the
prosecution.
Lemon, of Chesildene
Avenue, Bournemouth, was
released on bail and will be
sentenced on March 10.
Pensioner
still critical
BOURNEMOUTH: An 85-year-old
woman remains in a critical
but stable condition after a
road accident in Boscombe.
The woman was crossing
Palmerston Road outside Aldi
when she was involved in a
collision with a black
Vauxhall Corsa on Friday
morning.
Actor truly fangful
for his starring rolePLAYING Dracula in the West End is
a dream come true for former
Bournemouth schoolboy Doug Child.
His career has completely
transformed from his days working as
a call advisor at First Assist in
Bournemouth to wowing thousands
of people on stage as part of the
cult collective The Circus of
Horrors.
The dream started
when Doug, aged 36, saw
an advert looking for a
someone to play
Nosferatu – The Camp
Dracula in the new
spectacular for its West
End debut.
He said: “I was busy
working in a call centre for
First Assist and saw the ad in
the Stage and before I knew it I was
performing with The Circus of
Horrors in a packed theatre in
London’s West End.”
The actor went to Pokesdown
School and then Porchester School
and first saw stardom when he played
the Mad Hatter in Adventure
Wonderland.
Doug, who still lives in
Bournemouth, is on the
road most of the time
with the travelling
show but still calls the
seaside town his home.
After leaving
Adventure Wonderland
Doug worked as a
performer at children’s
parties for four years and at
the First Assist call centre.
Doug is accompanied on stage by
Stephanie Mercury, who is another
local actress from Corfe Mullen.
He added: “I have always been a fan
of horror and Nosferatu was my hero.
“I studied his every move so when I
went for the audition I had it pretty
well nailed. Nevertheless, I was still
shocked to be given the job.”
The Circus of Horrors show
stormed into the finals of Britain’s
Got Talent with their eclectic
collection of the macabre inspired by
the streets of Victorian London.
Ever since its conception at
Glastonbury Festival in 1995 the tour
has achieved world cult status,
shocking audiences with daredevil
acts, from a pickled person to
outstanding aerial acrobatics.
Tickets are now on sale at the
Bournemouth Pavilion Ticket office
for the performance on Monday,
March 17 at 7.30pm.
CONTACT ME
t: 01202 411293
e: miriam.phillips@
bournemouthecho.co.uk
twitter: @echomiriam
Miriam
Phillips
VAMPING IT UP: Douglas Child will
be playing Nosferatu in the Circus
of Horrors’ new production and,
inset, at the call centre