CAR parking charges have been cut at some country parks to encourage more people to visit them. Essex County Council has reduced the price of season tickets at seven of its beauty spots, including Cudmore Grove in East Mersea. A 12-month season ticket
AVELEY lost their grip on the Essex Thames-side Trophy with a 3-1 defeat against Brimsdown Rovers. Though John Maskell pulled a goal back with a headed goal just before half time, Millers went into the break 3-1 down. The South Midlands League side's
A WOMAN was hurt when the car she was driving hit a central reservation before smashing into a garden wall in Southend. The black Fiat Punto was heading towards the Cuckoo Corner roundabout, in Victoria Avenue, when it hit the wall at about 5.20pm yesterday
TALWIN got their hands on the Mick Hayward Cup with a 2-1 win over Day One. Striker Danny Heale scored the winning goal three minutes from time in a clash between two Premier Sceptre League sides, which was played at Great Wakering's Burroughs Park ground
A new pilot is celebrating after becoming the UK's first one-man flying Circus. Ronald Circus, 47, of Ravendale Way, Shoebury, has just finished eight months of training at Southend airport's flight centre and on Friday received his pilot's licence.
THURROCK suffered a 30-7 defeat away at table topping Tring in London Two North and remain second from bottom in the league. Elsewhere in the same division London Nigerian were beaten 30-29 by Ruislip, while Woodford won 29-0 at Eton Manor. In Essex
MOTORISTS across Castle Point will benefit from a share of £24million funding for road improvements. The money could be used to tackle blackspots such as Canvey Way, where accidents have brought the island to a standstill. Under the new Essex County
A HOST of leading figures in Italian football have backed West Ham's new technical director Gianluca Nani to be a hit at Upton Park. AC Milan midfielder Andrea Pirlo, Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni - both of whom Nani nurtured at Brescia - and Chelsea
WRESTLING fan Kieron Dyer may have been out injured for seven-and-a-half months, but he has already hatched a plan to inflict yet more pain on himself. The 29-year-old has not played for West Ham, who he joined from Newcastle United for £6million last
FREE wristbands will be handed out to parents this summer to make sure their children stay safe on the seafront. Parents are encouraged to write a mobile number on the waterproof wristbands and put it on their child's arm, so if they become separated
AN MP who resigned the Tory Whip has attacked the Conservatives for not allowing him to retain his party membership. A spokesman for Conservative headquarters confirmed Castle Point MP Bob Spink was no longer considered a member of the party following
A MILKSHAKE bar is coming to Southend with more than 100 flavours from Twiglets to peanut butter. Shake It milkshake bar is set to open on April 26 near the railway bridge in Southend High Street. Steve Vincent and Sam Phillips, both from Westcliff
A MAN appeared at court today charged with robbing a security guard as he filled an ATM machine. Carl Weighman, 25, of no fixed address, was arrested by police minutes after the robbery happened at 12.30am on Tuesday , outside the Abbey national in Alexandra
A MAN whose car smashed into a wall died of natural causes, police have revealed. Andrew Coe, 46, from Saxonville, Benfleet, was driving a blue Kia Sorrento, when he lost control near the Castle Point council offices in Kiln Road, Thundersley, at about
A WOMAN was seriously injured in a three-car crash this afternoon. She was driving a black Toyota Rav 4 which overturned after colliding with a green Renault Megane and a silver Ford Focus in Newington Avenue, Southchurch. The accident happened about
GRAYS Athletic Football Club have announced plans to move to a new home in Aveley. With their existing ground at Bridge Road in Grays about to be redeveloped, the Blue Square Premier club have been looking for a new site for some time and now appear
A WOMAN had to be cut free from the wreckage of her car by firefighters. The crash happened on Tye Common Road, Billericay near to its junction with Western Road when a Vauxhall Combi van and red Ford Escort collided with each other. The accident happened
AN MP has called for Lottery funds to be scrapped for an organisation which combats racism. Billericay Tory MP John Baron claims the Essex Racial Equality is biased against Basildon Council over its dealings with travellers on illegal sites. Mr Baron
A £3,000 REWARD has been offered for information after yobs caused thousands of pounds of damage to 12 new vans. Essex Autogroup is offering the cash after vandals threw bricks and lumps of wood over the fence of the car compound in Hambro Hill, Rayleigh
HUNDREDS of children painted their favourite teddy bears on to a giant mural. Around 500 children contributed to the mural over the last week, when they visited the Eastgate Shopping Centre in Basildon. They used poster paints to create colourful images
A MAN who was captured on CCTV glassing a stranger in the face was locked up for four years. Kenneth Cooke, 63, was convicted after his trial in February of causing Anthony Pudney grievous bodily harm with intent when he lashed out at him with a glass
A PROGRAMME of events in Southend will celebrate England's patron saint in style at the weekend. The Southend branch of the Royal Society of St George will hold its annual banquet at Prittlewell Priory on Saturday, April 19, with music from medievalmusicians
THE Samaritans has launched an e-mail service from its Southend branch to help people in distress, despair, or who feel suicidal. Based in York Road, the branch will now field e-mails from across the country and internationally, providing support. The
THE stories and memories peppering Canvey's past have been saved for future generations on a new online archive charting the history of the island. More than 350 people turned out for the launch of the new Lottery-funded scheme at Canvey Library. Staff
FREYA Ansell-Jones was in top form when the British elite compulsory grades qualifiers were held at Ipswich. Gymnasts throughout the region were competing for one of the top four places for the national finals and Ansell-Jones, from Wickford's Carousel
THE Essex Coroners' system should not be mucked up. The move to shut down the Hadleigh coroners' office in favour of a centralised system at Chelmsford is misguided. Coroners' offices have always recognised the importance of a local presence. Coroners
BURGLARS are to be caught bang to rights with the launch of a new squad dedicated to snaring them. Detectives at Billericay CID have set up the burglary team in a bid to target, catch and stop the thieves who make their living breaking into people's
CANVEY Island were the victors in Saturday's derby with Billericay as they came out on top 23-10. The win put the Islanders above their rivals and up into seventh in the standings. Basildon put up a brave showing at second placed Sudbury before narrowly
ROCHFORD Hundred made sure of third place with a 26-14 win over Norwich on Saturday. The match started in bright sunshine and it was the visitors who looked the livelier side as they raced over for an early converted try which acted as a wake up call
A WOMAN was injured in an accident in Hart Road, Thundersley, today. Police are investigating the accident, in which the woman was in collision with a blue Honda HRV at 10.30am. The woman, who was treated by paramedics at the scene is not thought to
HAVING shared the spoils at home to Halifax in a six-goal thriller on Saturday, Grays Athletic will look for more goals in Sussex tonight when they take on Crawley Town.
THURROCK gave Fisher Athletic a helping hand in their play-off fight when they lost 2-0 to the South Londoners on Saturday. Now they could do the same favour to Bath City who they visit tonight in a long midweek journey.
A DREAM came true for football mad Remi Cooper this Saturday when he walked out with Blues captain Adam Barrett before the team's match against Northampton. Remi, 12, from Great Wakering, was chosen by staff at Little Havens Children's Hospice to be
A MAN was left injured after an accident on the A13. Fire crews were called to the accident between the Orsett Cock roundabout and the Tilbury turn-off at 8.53am, yesterday. One man was hurt, but had already been removed from the vehicle by paramedics
CANVEY Island take a break from their battle to win a Ryman One North play-off spot tonight when they host Ilford in the semi-finals of the fight for the silver galleon trophy. Special admission prices will apply for this evening's game. They are £5
TWO young people suffered severe burns following a blaze in a house of multiple occupancy. A 12-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy received burns to their arms, hands and faces in a fire in Heygate Avenue, Southend. The two youngsters managed to escape
CONCORD Rangers will look for Romford to do them a favour when the fight for the league title resumes tonight. While Canvey-based Concord have what should prove a home banker against Hullbridge Sports, current leaders Enfield 1893 face a tougher proposition
SOUTHEND High School's rugby sevens success was capped by the year nine team, who won the county cup at New Hall School, Chelmsford, with a 21-7 success over Coopers Coburn from Upminster. Tries came from Jimi Tele and Josh Rees, and Southend High conceded
ESSEX drew their match with Cambridge University of Cricketing Excellence at Fenners after rain again disrupted play on the third and final day. A lunchtime declaration by the students allowed their county opposition further batting practice ahead of
A FINE debut from centre Mike Stanley helped Southend fight back to beat Nuneaton 41-15 at Warners Bridge on Sunday. The England Under-19 international, who is on the books of Premiership club Saracens, scored one try and made another as the Seasiders
PATIENTS have breathed a sigh of relief after two surgeries under threat of closure look set to be saved. The futures of Leecon Way surgery, in Rochford, and Hawkwell Park Drive Surgery, in Hawkwell, have been hanging in the balance since Doctor Asim
THE landlady of an award-winning pub is livid a BNP council candidate has been distributing election leaflets showing him standing outside her pub. Margaret Orman, landlady of the family-run Whitmore Arms, was furious when a copy of the leaflet came
MEMBERS of Thurrock Youth Orchestra have been spending time in Paris to perform in a series of school concerts. The group has been in France along with three other schools in Paris and Disneyland Paris. Councillor Mike Revell, Thurrock councillor responsible
LEIGH Rotary Club is inviting people to have their blood pressure tested at a stroke awareness event. Nurses tested more than 200 people last year. Ten were found to have high blood pressure, putting them at risk of a stroke. Clare Eng, from the club
POLICE are warning motorists to take precautions to protect their cars after three break-ins along the same road in Westcliff. A thief targeted two cars while they were in Park Drive, Westcliff, in the early hours of last Tuesday, April 15. The window
CAMPAIGNING residents are calling for action to tackle congestion and create more parking spaces in their street. A petition launched by people living in Central Avenue, Southend, calls for changes to the road layout to make life easier for motorists
ANDRE Nel will miss Essex's opening LV County Championship Division Two clash with Northants and Sunday's Friends Provident Trophy trip to Kent. And the South African could also miss next week's four-day visit to Derbyshire and Friends Provident clash
BLUES midfielder Nicky Bailey insists his side have nothing to fear at Carlisle United on Saturday. The Cumbrians have won 17 matches at home - three more than any other side in League One. But the Shrimpers are currently enjoying a great run of form
FREDDIE Ljungberg could make a welcome return for West Ham's home clash with Derby County after tests revealed that he had not injured his hamstring, as was originally feared. The Swede was carried off after collapsing in agony during the closing stages
SPONSORS are needed for this year's Leigh Art Trail. The cultural event was established in 1997 by a group of contemporary artists to showcase local talent. The aim is to encourage access to arts and artistic expression, and local painters, sculptors
MORE than 400 people have joined a teenager's campaign to get a better bus service for their village. Steph Mosby, 18, is leading the calls to improve the number of buses travelling to and from Stambridge. She said it is impossible to get a job because
WEST Ham have written to their fellow Barclays Premier League clubs in a bid to stave off compensation claims from Sheffield United and Kia Joorabchian over the Carlos Tevez affair. The Irons were fined a total of £5.5million after admitting to breaking
POLICE are investigating a fire which badly damaged a house on Canvey last night. Firefighters spent two hours tackling the blaze in a house in Cedar Road which started at 11.30pm. The fire was discovered by neighbours who had been alerted by the sound
ROGUE traders who flytip, use false names and don't always finish their jobs have been unmasked by the Echo. Gerry McCann and his workforce drive unmarked vehicles and one worker has convictions for theft and assaulting a police officer. Mawgan Nurding
A GRIEVING family who are awaiting an inquest into the death of a relative have backed calls to keep a coroner's office in south Essex. The family of Natalie Wade, 28, say they are horrified to discover plans to shut the corner's office in Hall Crescent
I think the Echo is quite right. Yes the time has passed for the layabouts of Camp Bling to evacuate themselves and roll up their sleeping bags and stow their goatskin saggy mead flagons on to their oxen carts and move anon to pastures afresh
The landscaping of the old bandstand site on Southend cliffs has been one small step in the right direction considering the negative impact of the cliff subsidence had upon the area. While it was sad to see the removal of the majority of original
I express my joy at a visit to the Salvation Army Farm at Hadleigh. I am a former police officer and I have been dealing with the farm for more than 39 years. My first encounter was as a young uniformed officer when I was introduced to the farm
Seeing that Aubrey Stein (Apl 9) is so protraveller, I suggest he go and have a chat with Len Grindle at Crays Hill, who is unfortunate enough to have travellers for neighbours. Mr Stein might then realise that the letters to the Echo on the
DON'T miss your Echo all this week for our shocking investigation on modern day slavery in south Essex. Our expose reveals how vulnerable people are being forced to work in south Essex's black economy. We have case studies of young people who are being
VANDALS caused damage to a car after throwing stones from a bridge. The VW Beetle was being driving along the A132 at Wickford, between Somerfield and the Wick, when three boys began hurling stones at the car from a bridge - smashing the windscreen and
MORE than £35,000 damage was caused at an amusement arcade after a thief broke in and smashed open slot machines and stole cash. The crook forced open the shutters of the Fantasia Amusement Park, in Eastern Esplanade, Southend, just after 4am on
SAUCY restaurant chain Hooters has been given the green light to open in Southend. The American brand - famous for its waitresses in orange hot pants and low-cut tops - applied to open a restaurant in London Road. Southend Council's licensing sub-committee
