A PERFORMANCE of classical scores based on animals is being held to raise money for them. Essex Concert Orchestra is hosting a special charity concert in aid of Essex Wildlife Trust on Saturday. The programme will include the Thieving Magpie Overture
THE longest running Buddy Holly tribute stops off at the Cliffs Pavilion in Station Road, Westcliff, on Saturday. Buddy Holly and the Cricketers has delighted audiences at theatres, festivals and charity events, from the UK to the West Indies
ENTER Toad, Ratty, Mole and Badger. If it’s not David Attenborough’s latest nature saga it can only mean the return of Toad of Toad Hall, one of the best loved and most enduring children’s plays ever written. Toad had its first staging at Christmas
A MUM was left reeling after her newborn baby was ‘thrown’ into a taxi by a cab driver. Samantha Saunders, 24, was horrified after the Value Cars driver hurriedly shoved her baby’s carrycot into the boot of his cab. He had failed to realise the two-week-old
A NEW British Heart Foundation store providing quality, affordable second-hand furniture and electrical items has opened. Generous members of the public have donated everything from three-piece suites, beds and dining tables through to coffee makers,
COPS are hoping someone will sing like a canary over a recent spate of bird thefts. In the last two weeks alone, about 50 canaries have been stolen from homes in Stanford-le-Hope, Tilbury and Grays. Thieves cut their way into aviaries containing the
THE annual Basildon Sports Council Presentation Awards evening took place at the Towngate Theatre where reigning Commonwealth Games decathlon champion Dean Macey was guest of honour. It was the first awards evening for a joint venture with “Active Basildon
MUD, glorious mud will soon be doing its bit for charity. The 2.5-mile Mulberry Mud Run has been officially launched to raise money for Havens Hospices. Entrants for the May event will be asked to run in the Thames mud, all the way from Thorpe Bay beach
A CLOSE-KNIT family has paid tribute to a devoted mother who was killed in a car crash. The death of Samantha Lee, 23, has left a hole in the lives of hundreds of people after her car overturned in Creeksea Ferry Road, Canewdon, on Valentine’s Day.
NURSES may have to pay as much as £40 a month to park at Southend Hospital. Introducing parking charges for staff is being considered by hospital bosses as they decide the criteria for distributing parking permits. The hospital’s new 900-space multistorey
CROWSTONE’S mixed second team picked up their first earned point of the season — but they had to fight hard to win it. All the team’s other nine points had come from points awarded from abandoned matches or walkovers. The first rubber featured Don Smith
YOUNGSTERS proved they are stars in the making with a performing arts show designed to show off their skills. The pupils at Shoeburyness High School have created and choreographed a show which they will soon perform as part of their Btec performing
PUPILS at a Thundersley school were given the chance to weigh up their future employment options at a jobs fair. Year 9 pupils at King John School, in Shipwrights Drive, attended the job evening to help them decide which GCSE choices would best suit
nearly 3,700 Canvey homes were left in darkness and a football match had to be abandoned after a power cut. Households in Furtherwick Road, Morris Road and Atherstone Road all lost electricity. EDF energy restored electricity to 367 homes within five
A TENANTS’ representative who resigned from the board of St George’s Community Housing has been reinstated after publicly apologising to councillors he previously slammed. George Kreuder, a tenant member of St George’s Community Housing board, ate humble
WESTCLIFF Hardcourts won their Essex Ladies Division One with Westcliff Lawn 4-0 thanks to Faye Watts, Sue Hookway, Claire Hammerman and Virunee Viravong. Hard also contest two Essex cup finals on Sunday at Deanes Sports College in Thundersley. There
SOUTHEND are busily preparing for Saturday night’s home show at Rayleigh Mill in Bellingham Lane (7pm). Tickets are £10 adults and £6 concessions and an exciting full programnme is planned. Southend’s light-heavyweight Chris Reddan won his bout against
NEW images of how a £35million Olympic sporting village could look have been released as councillors get ready to rubber-stamp the plans. It will mean work can finally begin on the world-class facility in Basildon’s Gloucester Park which is expected
NICK Hilder stole the show with an outstanding performance to win the 18 and under boys’ singles at the David Lloyd Basildon Spring Tournament. The teenager was seeded seventh in his home club competition but beat higher-rated players to be crowned champion
ROCHFORD'S Hundred’s midweek bogey competition was a close-run thing with three players tied on level. In the end, 22-handicapper David Frake beat off the challenge of Robert Bryan and John Mellor thanks to a better back nine. Frake finished with three
TRAIN delays are expected to continue for passengers travelling in both directions from Pitsea station this afternoon. c2c trains from Pitsea station have been seriously delayed since about 10.40am this morning due to a power failure.
SOUTHEND United’s new £44million stadium at Fossetts Farm will feature hotel rooms in its west stand, which will double up as box suites on match days. Blues’ chairman Ron Martin has released more details of the stadium in his blog on the football
A CLOSE-KNIT family has paid tribute to a devoted mother who was killed in a car crash. The death of Samantha Lee, 23, has left a hole in the lives of hundreds of people after her car overturned in Creeksea Ferry Road, Canewdon, on Valentine’s Day.
DOG OWNERS have attacked Southend Council plans to ban dogs from more areas in the town as excessive. The council wants to ban dogs from all the boroughs beaches. It also plans to use new legal powers to impose £50 fines on owners caught
FOR the first time this year, Thorpe Hall had two weekend competitions over 18 holes and the weather was kind. For St David’s Day, the men played a Four Ball/Better Ball Stableford for the Welsh Cup. The winners in a strong field, by one point, were
A FIRE broke out in a Rayleigh maisonette on Tuesday night for the second time in a week. Firefighters were called to the home, in Castle Road, at 9.46pm to tackle the fire, which is thought to have been started deliberately. Crews from Rayleigh and
ANGRY traders and residents packed a hall to protest at plans to charge shoppers to park in some of Stanford-le-Hope and Corringham’s council car parks. About 200 people squeezed into Corringham Village Hall to questions Tory councillors about the proposals
REVENGE tasted sweet for England netball star Louisa Brownfield as she helped her side secure a 3-0 series win over Jamaica. The Thundersley-based 24-year-old was part of the team which lost to the ‘Sunshine Girls’ by just one goal in the 2007 World
ALEX Revell may be out injured with a broken leg at the moment but that has not stopped him getting plenty of grief from the lads. Revs did an interview with The Sun and a few of the lads weren’t happy with some of his answers. We’ve called it the worst
BELFAIRS welcomed the return to their full normal greens as they hosted their March medals in spring sunshine. There was some sparkling golf played and the veterans led the way through Jim Dennis and Frank Howroyd. Dennis (19) hit a superb net 61
THE Lords Golf and Country Club (Rayleigh) held the last of its Stableford competitions for February in relatively mild weather conditions. The midweek contest saw Robin Reville score a respectable 39 points ahead of Chris Ramsden, who came in with 38
EIGHTY-one-year-old Joe Deal achieved a legendary achievement of his own at the Southend United Blues Legends Golf Day at Garon Park. For he scored the sixth ace of his golfing life to steal the headlines from a star line-up that included Blues manager
WORK to install average speed cameras as part of a £700,000 scheme to cut congestion and reduce accidents on Canvey Way has begun. The introduction of the cameras, which should be up and running by April, is the final stage of the Essex County Council
SHRIMPERS striker Lee Barnard wants success against Walsall to come in threes on Saturday. The 24-year-old has netted in his last two appearances against the Saddlers. And Barnard is desperate to extend the scoring sequence at Roots Hall this weekend
I read with interest about the parking mix-up at Lidl (Feb 25). I too had that problem on February 13. I was supposed to have parked for more than three hours, when in fact I only shopped there for ten minutes, went home and came back nearly three hours
In reply to Anthony Knight (Feb 19), foreign workers have not been taking British jobs, they have been given them at a lower rate of pay than that of local workers. Therefore it is the employers who are attacking British workers’ standard of living,
The proposals for Southend Airport’s expansion have finally been released. Just so we are all clear on what we will get, the document predicts up to two million passengers a year in planes carrying 100-150 people. This means there will be a plane every
What does Chris Jones mean when he writes (Feb 24), Southend sees high rise as a good thing? People all over the borough are protesting angrily about proposals from the pier head to the airport, via Cuckoo Corner, and there are two active groups opposing
Labour came to power in 1997. Since then it has done many good things, particularly regarding schools and the National Health Service, but what is the point of healthy, well-educated people if you deprive them of their ancient liberties? Twenty-five
I agree it is wrong to refuse the Dutch MP Geert Wilder entry into the UK (Feb 16). The only way to combat people who hold extremist views is not to ban them, but actually allow open debate. If you stifle debate and hide issues away then we see a rise
Len Lierens, in his latest rant against officialdom, equates the Essex Safer Roads Bureau with the Russian Stasi. This shows a lack of knowledge of both history and geography. It is perhaps hardly surprising the younger generation are so ill informed
Steve Harknett has missed the point about orphanages in India. He talks about foster care. In this area of India most people are unable to care for their own children without the burden to support other children whose parents have died sometimes through
I have received a letter from my NHS dentist telling me the Primary Care Trust has ceased funding of this practice. The dentist has a plan at the cost of £10 per month that can cover my future dentistry care should I choose to sign up to it. There are
BUSINESS premises were left smoke logged after an electrical heater caused a fire. Crews from Basildon were called to the incident at Cardnet in Paycocke Road, Basildon, at around 7.15am this morning after security guards noticed the small blaze. Station
A MAN was resuscitated after being rescued from a blaze in a Southend kebab shop. The man, thought to be in his 40s, was rescued from a fire which had broken out in the rear room of a kebab shop on Sutton Road shortly after 1.30am last night
COUNTY council clerical jobs could be done by workers overseas, as part of controversial plans to give more of the council’s work to outside firms. County Hall has not ruled out giving the work to overseas companies as it looks at firms bidding for multibillion-pound
SOUTHEND Council has been ranked as one of the best unitary authorities in the country, according to the latest full inspection of its services by the Government. The Audit Commission awarded the town three stars out of four in its Comprehensive
YOBS scrawled an offensive word across a van parked outside a family home. Michael Clark was disgusted to find a smiley face had been scratched into the bonnet of his Ford Transit van along with a four-letter swear word. It had been parked on the driveway
MOTORING misery is on its way when an energy company lays a 33,000 volt cable beneath Sadlers Farm roundabout. EDF is spending £1.2million on the scheme to divert overhead power cables to allow improvement work to the notorious roundabout. The power
THE cholera epidemic which swept Britain in the 19th century has been investigated by a Southend author. Mick Holland, Neighbourhood Watch coordinator for Southend, has written a book about the rioting which followed the spread of the fatal disease in
TWO media studies pupils have won awards for their involvement with a community radio station. Ashley Duhig, 13, and Chris Coleman-Wood, 14, who attend Chalvedon School, in Pitsea, received Essex Arts Awards for their volunteer work with Gateway FM.
A CAMPAIGN group has launched a petition against the redevelopment of Wickford’s post sorting office. Wickford Action Group wants to save the Royal Mail depot, in Lower Southend Road, from plans to build 173 luxury flats on the site.
CONSTRUCTION of a new building for a disability charity is due to begin next week. Disability Essex says work on the Centre for Disability Studies at Rocheway Adult and Community College, Rochford, will start on Wednesday. The £1.8million eco-building
DEVELOPMENT bosses from south Essex will jet off to the French Riviera for an international conference to bring investment to the area. Representatives from Basildon Council and development agencies from Southend, Basildon and Thurrock will
A CREDIT union is hoping to secure cash from Essex County Council to stop people falling into the hands of loan sharks. Essex Savers, a credit union providing low interest loans, is looking for £200,000 a year to extend the scheme throughout
THE search is on to find Basildon’s “first born” resident. A heritage group is eager to find a 60-year-old resident who was born on or just after January 4, 1949 – the date the town was officially created. The Foundation of Essex Arts is on the quest
WHEN cancer hit one of his nearest and dearest, Tim Fry from Rayleigh decided to pull on his running shoes in a bid to help beat the disease. Tim, 47, of Hockley Road, is limbering up for the Flora London Marathon in aid of breast cancer research. The
A WOMAN is embarking on a marathon challenge in memory of her dad. Corinne Barnett, an assistant teacher, of Station Crescent, Rayleigh, is hoping to raise at least £1,500 for the blind charity RNIB, by running in this year’s Flora London Marathon on
WIGAN manager Steve Bruce accused referee Stuart Attwell of ruining the game in his side's 1-0 defeat at home to West Ham which saw both teams reduced to 10 men. The Latics boss felt the Warwickshire official - the youngest in the Barclays Premier
CARLTON Cole scored a wonderful winner for West Ham but it was card-happy referee Stuart Attwell who stood out. The official sent off Cole for a second bookable offence just three minutes after his first-half strike came from an incisive passing move
THE cliche “plays like a girl” is something young blues star Joanne Shaw Taylor has been attempting to redefine. When the firey guitarist and sultry singer makes her way to the New Crawdaddy Blues Club tomorrow night, she’s hoping to lay that view to
