Pictures taken in Dorset from the heatwave of 1976

While we morn the sunny spell we were briefly treated to, the Echo looks back at an absolute scorcher. The long hot heatwave of 1976 was one of the hottest of all time.

Even though the record for the highest individual temperature has been broken twice since 1976 - once in 1990 and again in 2003 when Brogdale in Kent reached 38.5C (101.3F) - nothing has come close to 1976 in terms of sheer persistence.

Keeping cool in the heat Echo photographer Harry Ashley and his grandson 28th June 1976. (Image: Echo)

Every day between June 22 and July 16, 1976, the temperature reached well above 80F.

However, the heat was at its most intense between June 23 and July 7, with temperatures soaring to 90F every day in some places.

Stephen Bicknell, 11, by the pond at Queen's Park golf course which ran dry for the first time in 40 years. (Image: Echo)

The winter beforehand had been dryer than usual, so the hot summer of 1976 became a severe drought.

Water reserves ran out and heath fires became a frighteningly common occurrence.

A dog takes a much needed drink. (Image: Echo)

Five hundred people heading for Matchams Country Club became trapped in Matchams Stadium as one of the New Forest’s worst ever fires burned around them.

Brownsea Island was closed to the public because of the risk.

Under the pier during the first day of rain in a long time. (Image: Echo)

Echo staff fried eggs on scorching manhole covers while Hampshire firefighters responded to 175 incidents a day - and as if it wasn’t hot enough outside, an arsonist set 14 fires in Southampton General Hospital.

During the drought, ladybirds thrived, water authority officials checked gardens to ensure owners didn’t use illicit hoses, beer production was threatened, and ice cream queues were endless.

Enjoying a game of football on the first day of rain. (Image: Echo)

When the rains finally arrived in early October, it was one of the wettest autumns on record.