HIGH-JUMPER Poppy Lake won her first national indoors title in Birmingham on Sunday – and then admitted she will have to start rethinking her ambitions this summer. Lake cleared 1.70m at her second attempt to take the under-17 women’s title on countback
PATIENTS who have undergone metal on metal hip replacements are being closely monitored due to serious health fears. The friction between the two plates in this type of artificial hip produces chemical fragments which can leak into the blood and cause
ANTI-cuts campaigners made their feelings known ahead of last night’s Southend Council budget meeting. Southend members of trade union Unison and supporters of lobby group Southend Against the Cuts gathered outside Southend Victoria train station and
A DEPRIVED part of Canvey is set to receive a £1million investment to tackle crime and make the area a better place to live. Link Road, Canvey, is one of 50 communities across the country which is set to benefit from a £200million scheme by
A WOMAN has told how she is living in fear after yobs painted her windows black and then returned to smash them in. The 50-year-old who lives in Culverdown, Basildon, said she is now dreading the weekend in case the sinister vandals strike
Hard-pressed motorists are paying record high prices for petrol, it has been announced. The average cost of a litre of petrol has risen to 137.44p, topping the previous all-time high of 137.43p a litre in May 2011, said the AA. The rise puts more
RESIDENTS are celebrating after receiving £1million to improve their neighbourhood via community projects. Broomfields, in Pitsea, is one of 50 deprived estates or streets across England to be given the Big Lottery Fund cash. The money could
Travellers evicted from Dale Farm fighting to stay in Basildon have lost a bid to move to a Laindon wildlife haven. Communities Secretery Eric Pickles has quashed an appeal by 12 families to move from Oak Lane, Crays Hill, to a proposed site
GO-GETTING residents are trying to rent out their driveways to cash in on the Southend Airport expansion. Dozens of online adverts have been placed for private parking spots in streets near the airport, as it prepares to welcome easyJet in
AN iconic building in Shoebury is set to become a bistro and wine bar after sitting empty for eight years – and it will be run by a resident living on the Garrison estate. Details are being finalised for the transformation of the Grade II
THERE has been plenty written and said about a few of our players this week. Three of the team (Ryan Hall, Kane Ferdinand and Liam Dickinson) have been internally disciplined after what happened in Morecambe. And Bilel Mohsni also made the headlines
Residents of Thorpe Bay have called for greater consultation with Southend Council about local issues. The first consultation was over dogs on the beach. Two-thirds of respondents voted against the ban on dogs, but even before the end of the
I am fed up with people not knowing the difference between the Essex accent and London’s East End gutter talk. I was born in the East End, in the same house as my mother. She spoke in a clear, precise, homely voice. My dad was an Essex man who
Paul Divine made a very important point about organisations such as Save the Children and Oxfam (Feb 21). He said they should put pressure on corrupt foreign governments who let their people starve, while their leaders live lives of luxury paid
I wouldn’t dream of going to Southend for pleasure, but Anna Waite is out of order for vilifying people who probably have no choice but to shop there. Most mothers don’t set out to be single, most drug users don’t set out to be addicts and I’
Does Castle Point Borough Council’s initials of CPBC really stand for Completely Paralysed Borough Commuters? Thank you for publishing the dramatic news of the repair works on Canvey Way (Mar 1). The residents of this borough will start to think
I have just read Tom King’s excellent article on the forthcoming production of Funny Peculiar at the Palace Theatre, Westcliff (yesterday). I recall very well the general furore which broke out when it was first staged at the Palace in 1977,
DAVID Martin wants to fire Southend United back in to the race for automatic promotion with a win at Burton Albion tomorrow. Martin looks set to be handed a recall on the left wing at the Pirelli Stadium. And he is determined to help
A LEADING Tory’s claims that single mothers, alcoholics and drug addicts are damaging Southend High Street have been branded “unacceptable” by fellow Conservatives. Anna Waite said big chain shops were shunning the High Street because nearby residents
LEOPARDS coach Dejan Mihevc is preparing his side for a hectic end to the season. Leopards travel to league leaders Bristol Academy Flyers tomorrow night before hosting Medway Park Crusaders at the Brentwood Centre on Sunday. And the two games kick
SOUTHEND Rugby Club are again aiming to get the better of high flying Old Albanians at Warners Bridge tomorrow. The Seasiders were the last side to beat Albanians, back in October, when they won 33-22. And the club’s director of rugby
ANTO Flood wants to be let loose on the Burton Albion back four tomorrow. The Irish striker, who joined Blues during January, is still waiting to make his debut. But he now feels ready to be thrown in to first team action. “It was always going to
SOUTHEND Council has approved budget cuts worth £11.8million over the next financial year. In a fraught, five-hour meeting last night, the authority's political factions clashed over plans to scrap 120 jobs and slash funding for day care patients
FRUSTRATED residents are hopeful hospital staff and patients will soon be banned from parking in their streets. The results of an investigation into a series of strict parking restrictions, introduced around Southend Hospital last year, will be unveiled
WESTCLIFF will be out to continue their improved run of form when they take on fourth placed Bishop’s Stortford at the Gables tomorrow. Westcliff have strengthened their National League Three London & SE survival hopes by securing two successive victories
ROCHFORD Hundred host second placed Letchworth Garden City in London One North tomorrow. Rochford head in to the game on the back of beating Hammersmith & Fulham last weekend. But Hundred’s first team manager Graham Pratt knows his team must again
AN empty town centre pub could be turned into a 160-seat boutique cinema, with a glazed atrium and swanky restaurant for customers. The Crown pub, in High Street, Hadleigh, is one of the town’s most historic buildings and dates back to 1899, but the
SUPER-TALENTED Jessica Judd has revealed she has had to forsake some of her cross-country endurance to prepare for a massive year on the track. The 17-year-old is focusing more on speed work than mileage this winter in a bid to start the track
A FAMILY-RUN fancy dress business has been inundated with calls since appearing on a prime time television show. Props and Frocks, in Rectory Lane, Battlesbridge, was featured on Alex Polizzi – the Fixer on BBC2 on Tuesday evening, which followed
OF all the many impressive performances by south Essex athletes at the English Cross-Country Championships, there was perhaps none better than the run of Tom Frith in the junior men’s race. The 19-year-old Southend AC athlete admitted he shocked even
GEMMA Holloway refused to be beaten by an energy-sapping chest infection and ran to an impressive seventh place at the English Cross-Country Championships over London’s gruelling Parliament Hill course. The 15-year-old Thurrock Harrier had
ADAM Hickey had to show some quick footwork at the end of the senior men's race at the English Cross-Country Championships just to stay on his feet and claim an impressive 13th place finish. The 23-year-old Southend AC athlete was flying towards
JODIE Judd was delighted to make it into the top 10 in the under-13 girls’ race on a course she does not consider one of her favourites. The 12-year-old Castle View School pupil produced a fantastic run to finish in ninth place at Parliament Hill, surpassing
GEMMA Kersey admitted to being a “bit disappointed” with her seventh-placed finish in the junior women’s race after setting her sights on a top four placing. The 20-year-old Basildon AC athlete had not raced since coming 15th and the third Great British
BILEL Mohsni has revealed he does not know if he has a future at Southend United. The 25-year-old utility man will definitely not line up for Blues at Burton Albion tomorrow. But, speaking to the Echo exclusively from France, Mohsni insisted he
