Archive

  • Jessica Judd into the 800m Commonwealth Games final

    CANVEY’S teenage sensation Jessica Judd will tomorrow night be racing in the 800m final of the Commonwealth Games. The 19-year-old produced a performance beyond her years to win her semi-final in teeming rain Glasgow. She will now be dreaming

  • New hope for Old Leigh Regatta weekend?

    A COMMUNITY event could be salvaged from the ashes of Old Leigh Regatta after Leigh Lions Club stepped in. The regatta, a charity event held to raise funds for the Leigh Scout community, was set to take place in September for the 41st time, but

  • Luxury hotel set to open on seafront in November

    FORMER fishermen’s cottages are being transformed into a luxury seafront hotel in a £450,000 revamp. The three terraced houses in Hartington Road, Southend, known as Marine Villas, will reopen as a four or five-star hotel called the Beach Retreat

  • Hats off for Capps at Thorpe Hall Championships

    MATTHEW Capps won the Thorpe Hall club championship after finishing two strokes clear. Capps carded 147 in the competition, which is played off scratch over two rounds. William Turner finished second after scoring 149. The winner of the

  • Essex tennis team wins promotion after tournament succes

    ESSEX men’s and women’s tennis teams both secured promotion after success at the five-day Aegon County Week tournament. The men took top spot Men’s Group Three in Frinton on rubbers won after finishing on eight points with runners-up Cambridgeshire

  • Gift card giveaway for first customers to new TK Maxx

    LUCKY customers are in with a chance of winning gift cards when a new store opens in Basildon. TK Maxx has announced it will be giving away the cards to the first 500 people through the doors. The new store, at Pipps Hill Retail Park, will

  • Success story of pupil reading team

    BUSINESSES have been praised for giving up their time to help children get into reading. Leading firms including Palmers Solicitors and Selex EC, along with Basildon Council and JobCentre Plus, signed up to the reading partnership scheme. The

  • Pharmacy open for business

    A NEW-LOOK pharmacy has opened in Billericay. Lloyds, in High Street, re-opened last week following a revamp and now offers community health services. Trevor Hull and Pete Claughton, from the Lions Club of Billericay, cut the ribbon in the

  • Diving sensation Tyler topples Tom Daley's record

    SOUTHEND diver Tyler Humphreys knocked Tom Daley off his perch after adding more medals to his collection. Tyler’s score of 216.05 in the 3m springboard bettered the record set by the 2012 Olympic Games 10m bronze medalist, when he was competing

  • Benfleet sprinter Hamilton gears up for Great Britain test

    BENFLEET sprinter Matthew Hamilton is just days away from the biggest test of his sporting life. The 17-year-old King John School pupil is about to represent Great Britain at the International Wheelchair & Amputee Sports Federation World Junior

  • Mum organises a seawall stroll in aid of Summer, five

    A YOUNG mum has raised £780 for a fiveyear- old girl suffering with cancer. Melissa Glover, 19, of Rochford Road, Canvey, held a charity walk in fancy dress around the island’s seawall. Altogether, she has raised £780 for Summer Allen, who

  • Ambulance service failing target

    AMBULANCES in Essex are failing to get to some of the most critical patients on time, according to figures. Paramedics are given a set time of getting to their most serious cases within eight minutes. But the East of England Ambulance service

  • Tracy and pals make pier walk for Danny's fund

    Canvey to Southend Pier and back to raise money for charity. Led by Tracy Hodges, the women laced up their trainers for the walk, which included a stroll to the end of the pier and back for good measure. The ten-and-a-half-hour trek was in

  • Hospital staff get their just rewards

    FRONTLINE hospital staff have been awarded for acts of kindness. Receptionists and booking teams at Basildon Hospital, in Nethermayne, were praised for going out of their way to help patients in the latest monthly staff awards. Carole Butterworth

  • Great Scott! It's a graffiti masterpiece

    A TALENTED graffiti artist has transformed part of a children’s hospice with a stunning jungle scene. Scott Irving, from Westcliff, has been putting the finishing touches to the mural on walls surrounding Little Havens hospice’s soft play area,

  • Guns taken during burglary

    GUNS have been stolen from a house on Canvey. Ten Airsoft rifles, which fire pellets, were taken during a burglary in Zealand Drive which happened sometime overnight on Tuesday. Police said the guns look realistic and are appealing for help

  • Ex-Grays man Chris Benjamin signs for Billericay Town

    STRIKER Chris Benjamin has joined Billericay Town from Grays Athletic. The frontman linked up with Town for yesterday night’s 2-2 draw with Dagenham & Redbridge, and scored the opening goal for the Ryman Premier League side after only ten minutes

  • £10,000 donation for Reece

    A FOUNDATION has announced it is giving £10,000 to a young man with two brain tumours who is fighting to stay alive. Reece Hawley, 21, of Clayhill Road, Basildon, has been appealing to the NHS to pay for life-extending treatment after it cut funding

  • Generous George buys pals first aid course

    GENEROUS schoolboy George Sutton has come up with a lifesaving way to spend £200 he won as part of an award– he’s sending 29 of his classmates on a first aid course. George, 14, a pupil at Castle View School, Canvey, spent £200 he won in the Jack

  • Mugged Marie's search for have a go heroes

    A WOMAN who was mugged while on her mobility scooter is trying to find the have-a-go heroes who ran to her aid. Marie Donaghy, 74, has been left afraid to go out, after the thief swiped her handbag, which contained just £10, in Long Road, Canvey

  • Double champion Max Whitlock aims for further medals

    MAX Whitlock made it two Commonwealth Games gold medals in the space of two days with an outstanding display in the all-around final in Glasgow yesterday. Whitlock, who trains at Basildon’s South Essex Gymnastics Club, led the way with an impressive

  • Charity's heartache as raiders strike for third time in year

    A CHARITY is counting the cost after being hit by burglars for the third time in a year. Trust Links, which helps people with mental health issues to learn gardening skills, is without a truck for six weeks after crooks ripped out its battery.

  • Shoppers' fury over Southend street auction con

    ANGRY shoppers surrounded a town centre store to demand their money back after being caught out at a speed auction. Bargain hunters turned up at the empty shop in Southend High Street hoping to get their hands on the latest gadgets and other gifts

  • Travellers move off illegal pitch

    TRAVELLERS have moved off an illegal pitch in Basildon. More than 20 caravans moved onto the derelict car park site, off East Mayne, on Tuesday night. Most of the caravans moved off this morning, with three still left. Residents said mounds

  • Southend United trialists to hear fate 'in a few days'

    D-Day looms for Southend trialists football: Southend United manager Phil Brown is set to finalise the futures of the club’s trialists in the next couple of days. Brown looked at a number of out-of-contract players during Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat

  • Traveller in car hits woman councillor

    A COUNCILLOR was hit by a car after she formed a human shield with two colleagues to try to stop a convoy of travellers getting on to a disused car park. Linda Allport-Hodge, Ukip councillor for Nethermaye, was struck by a vehicle after the driver

  • Suicide may have been over debts

    A MAN who died when his car was engulfed in flames in Seevic College’s car park may have killed himself over debts, an inquest heard. Shopkeeper Vimalkumar Patel, from Kiln Road, Thundersley, drove into the car park of the college further along

  • If your road’s on the list, it’ll be goodbye potholes

    MORE than 140 crater-pocked roads across south Essex will benefit from £17.5million of repair work announced in a new Essex County Council programme. County Hall has listed roads in Basildon, Castle Point and Rochford council areas to be fixed

  • 20 months jail for baby-faced burglar

    A BABY-FACED burglar who broke into 25 homes and stole £50,000 of property has been jailed. Bradley Lengthorn, 19, was sentenced for a string of offences alongside burglar Charlie Wall, 21, who broke into an 88-year-old woman’s bedroom while she

  • Police hunt for suspect after sexual assault in Shoebury

    A WOMAN was sexually assaulted and robbed in Shoebury in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Essex police are investigating the incident, which happened at around 3.15am in a park off North Shoebury Road. The victim, a woman in her fifties,

  • Oliver Dingley aiming to please as diving d-day arrives

    SOUTHEND Diving’s Oliver Dingley will be hoping to impress at the Commonwealth Games today. The 21-year-old will take part in the three metre springboard preliminary rounds this morning in Edinburgh. And he is desperate to work his way through

  • Alex Dowsett aims to put hurt behind him as he pedals for gold

    ALEX Dowsett doesn’t want to settle for second best in the Commonwealth Games time-trial today. The 25-year-old professional cyclist from Maldon burst on to the scene at the last Commonwealth Games in Delhi four years ago when he won a silver medal

  • We raised £800 for our brave boys and girls

    VOLUNTEERS raised more than £800 during Armed Forces Day. St Nicholas Church, Island Boys and Girls Football Club, and Smallgains Social Club, recently raised £826 during the Canvey Island Armed Forces Day, which will be used for the needs of local

  • We want action on inadequate drains

    FURIOUS residents are demanding better drainage after sewage and floodwater ruined their homes. Neighbours in Crouchview Close, Wickford, said they pulled up a drain cover so two feet of water could drain away. Their street was under water

  • Council bid to buy up empty eyesore tower blocks

    Two notorious office blocks on the road into Southend could be bought by the council to kickstart a long overdue regeneration project. Southend Council’s joint administration has put in a bid to buy the Carby and Heath tower blocks, in Victoria