A STORY of Southend foreshore has been passed on down the years. It’s a tale so extraordinary some have dismissed it as urban myth. It stems from the fierce rivalry between pleasure boat operators from the days when no trip to the seaside was complete
A MUCH-LOVED crabbing spot in Canvey could be turned into a muddy pool because of plans to block off a tidal creek. Tewkes Creek, off Dovervelt Road, became a tidal area by accident because the sluice barrier at the head of the creek, which is supposed
A SECOND pensioners club has joined the campaign for a bus to a cemetery and an out-of-town supermarket. Last week the Echo reported members of Canvey’s Age Concern Luncheon Club were calling for the introduction of a bus to Morrisons, in Northwick Road
NEW Lakeside heat leader Lee Richardson is targeting the club’s number one racejacket in 2009 as he prepares for a season that he hopes will see the club lift silverware. The Hammers came close to filling the trophy cabinet in 2008 but lost in the Elite
FIREFIGHTERS were called to a small fire in a boat’s cabin at Mike’s Boat Yard in High Street, Leigh, at 5pm on Thursday. Workers had been carrying out welding work when nearby paperwork caught fire but the blaze was put out quickly leaving the boat
TRAVELLERS have yet to be given their marching orders from illegal sites. Basildon Council last week won permission to evict up to 500 travellers from illegal sites at Hovefields, Wickford, and Dale Farm, Crays Hill. However, it has not served orders
COUNCIL tenants in Southend are set to benefit from an extra £57million of funding for improvements and repairs to their homes. The money will ensure all the 7,000 council homes will be brought up to the Government’s Decent Homes standard, which demands
TWO benefit cheats who, between them, swindled more than £7,000 have been sentenced. Lorraine Tabbard, 44, of Holden Gardens, Basildon, falsely claimed £6,900 in housing and council tax support. She failed to tell Basildon Council she was living with
ELDERLY people have been reassured their day centres won’t close and their activities and trips can still go ahead. The promise came from Andrew Baggott, Basildon councillor responsible for community, at a specially-arranged public meeting at the Towngate
A MASKED robber smashed through a jewellers’ window and stole an estimated £100,000 haul in a daylight raid yesterday. Diamond rings, earrings and a £27,000 diamond bracelet were swiped after a sledgehammer was used to smash the window of Clarence
TESCO has submitted plans to transform a car showroom into a new store. If the plans are approved by Southend Council, a Tesco Express with parking and a cash machine would open on half of the Parkstone Motor Company car dealership’s site, in London
BRITAIN'S middlewight Olympic champ James DeGale took time out from his busy schedule to visit the highly-successful Billericay Club at their gym in Lake Meadows Park. The Billericay club has only been back in competitive action for six months but has
BOMB disposal experts raced to a quiet cul-de-sac after a man woke on his 28th birthday to find a suspicious package on his doorstep disguised as a present. John Sturrock-McMoore found the present was making a ticking sound and saw blue paint splattered
A BUILDING which used to house a long-standing classic car business is being demolished. The former Overton Vehicles building, in Leigh Broadway, between the Grand Hotel and Louis XIV bar is being dismantled. A developer has permission to build flats
A CONSERVATION group has lost a three-year legal battle to save West Thurrock Marshes from development. The Buglife group now faces hefty legal bills as a result of a Court of Appeal ruling allowing the land to be developed. The marshland, home to several
A TORY MP has raised his concerns about high truancy rates in Parliament after an Echo story highlighted the problem at three schools in the borough. James Duddridge, MP for Rochford and Southend East, was concerned to learn about the truancy rates at
A STAY-AT-HOME dad, who has to fit his photography career around the family, has won a national award. Darren Chaplin, 34, of Long Riding, Basildon, picked up first prize at the competition for his picture of the South African rugby team after they won
CONSULTATION forms asking residents for their views on the future of Castle Point have been branded “deviously worded”. The forms, which have been sent to nearly every household in the borough, are asking for opinions on the controversial Core Strategy
DORIAN Dervite wants to be the man to shore up Southend United’s leaky defence. The French centre-back will be with the Shrimpers until the end of the season after signing on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. And the 20-year-old wants to help stop the Seasiders
STAFF, parents and pupils marked Chadwell St Mary Primary School’s reprieve from the threat of closure with a party. The decision not to close the school was taken earlier this month at an emotionally charged Thurrock Council meeting, after four months
PLANNED building projects for improved healthcare facilities in the area are progressing as scheduled, despite the economic crisis gripping the country. The recession has not affected plans for new health centres in Westcliff and Shoebury, while the
A BUSINESS destroyed by fire is rising from the ashes a year after the costly blaze. Jegs electrical warehouse and £3million worth of stock was devastated by fire just after Christmas in 2007. The company, established 37 years ago by
TEN Thurrock schools could benefit from £180million of extra cash, if a new council bid is successful. The council is hoping for cash from the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme to improve, rebuild and revitalise the borough’s schools
LOCAL people are to be asked their views about road improvements promised as part of plans to build a controversial waste plant in Courtauld Road, Pitsea. Essex County Council plans to spend more than £1million on roads around the site, which
TWO men who stored an arsenal of highly dangerous weapons were each jailed for seven years. Police raided John Marsh’s Laindon home and found in the hallway cupboard a bag containing a sub-machine gun, a silencer, two magazines, a double-barrelled
TRADING Standards have been called in to investigate a company run by a schoolboy. Gary Cooper, 16, has been making £30,000 a month from his internet-based firm GC’s PCs and is now being “monitored” by Essex Trading Standards. The entrepreneur
AN elderly man had to be rescued from the loft of his home after falling ill. Firefighters were called to lower the man from the loft at his home near the junction of Southchurch Road and Queensway Road, Southend. Paramedic David Elkington said the
KENT Elms II took full advantage against Westcliff Hard III to march up the Ladies’ Division Three table. Two straight sets wins earned the Aviation Way club a maximum six points and catapulted them up from fifth to second in the standings. Runaway
BOSSES at Basildon council believe a “firm but fair” approach has led to staff taking fewer days off than ever before. The council has managed to cut the number of sickies by its 1,000 staff to a record low. The average number of days taken off sick
PREGNANCY rates for teenage girls in Basildon fell by a fifth in less than ten years. The number of girls aged 16 to 18 becoming pregnant dropped from 486, between 1998 and 2000, to 407, between 2004 and 2006, a 6.2 per cent fall. A similar fall has
A BUSINESS in Southend has launched a free scheme to help people protect details of valuable household items in the event of fire or theft. Atlas Computer Sys-tems has launched www.underyourroof.com, which allows people to store copies of receipts, value
PUPILS could be striking a bit of fun into their day, by having lessons at the bowling alley. Youngsters from Basildon swapped their pens for pins by trying out a new education scheme aimed at improving their maths and biology skills through tenpin bowling
A NEW Sainsbury’s store has been given the go-ahead for Rochford town centre. The three-storey building will be in West Street, by the junction with Union Lane, and will have six flats above. It will also include a parking area with six spaces for residents
Basildon-based Seishan Karate Club raised £400 for Guide Dogs For the Blind by doing sponsored sit-ups. Teacher Dave Phillips said the group had a fundraiser every Christmas as was a good time of year to get youngsters to think of others
AN anti-smoking campaign giving budding young script writers the chance to have their work turned into film has been praised by a health campaigner. Pupils from 25 schools across the Basildon, Thurrock, Purfleet, Wickford and Brentwood, have been invited
SOUTHEND Swimming Club enjoyed excellent results at the Essex County Senior/Junior Championships and Special Age Group relays held at the new facility at Braintree Freeport shopping village. The Southend team finished seventh in the county in the Hugh
STUART O’Keefe was thrilled to make his full Southend United debut at Leeds on Tuesday night. And he hopes to have done enough to stay involved with the Shrimpers’ first team. The 17-year-old was a surprise starter at Elland Road and insists he could
CADET Arthur Leonard was the star at Rochford Hundred’s prizewinners’ supper, picking up a hat-trick of trophies. He won the John Lockhart Trophy and both the Saturday and Sunday senior medal finals. Captain Trevor Watson presented the awards in his
THERE has been considerable activity at Thorpe Hall in the past week but, due to the combination of hard frosts and torrential rain, the course has been partially or fully closed most of the time. As a result, there has been more than the usual concentration
SERVICE on the c2c train line has been disrupted this morning as saftey checks are made. Delays of up to eight minutes are expected between West Ham and Barking due to safety checks being made in the Plaistow area. Engineers are working to resume
A BUSINESSMAN has launched a scathing attack on Southend Council for rejecting his revamp of a town centre restaurant after he had completed the work. Paul van Looy has spent £150,000 converting a former Chinese restaurant into a fish and
A MULTIMILLION-POUND project to scrap the mini roundabouts at Tarpots in Benfleet has been revealed. The plans will see the twin roundabouts at the junction of High Road and Rushbottom Lane torn up and replaced with traffic lights. County
THE alarm bells were ringing for us at Leeds United on Tuesday - both on and off the pitch. With me being a father to my young son Harrison, our away games are normally the only chance I have to get a decent night’s sleep. But, at about
SHRIMPERS striker Alex Revell today spoke of his disappointment at being forced to miss the rest of the season with a broken leg. The forward picked up the long-term injury during the 1-1 draw at Leyton Orient last week and remains downhearted
ROCHFORD District Council is planning to increase its portion of council tax by 4.9 per cent next year. The move means a rise for a typical Band D home of £9 per year or 18p per week to pay for services like rubbish collection, housing and leisure services
ABOUT 300 people attended a community information event to learn about the services and advice available to them. The Paddocks in Long Road, Canvey, hosted 44 stands from community organisations explaining what they do and how they can help people.
LONG-SERVING Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinators have been recognised for their dedication. Essex Chief Constable Roger Baker thanked 15 co-ordinators from the Castle Point Neighbourhood Watch for their support for the community. Four of the co-ordinators
ALAN McCormack will be back for Southend United’s clash with Bristol Rovers on Saturday. And the midfielder, who missed the Shrimpers two matches with a groin strain, insists the encounter at Roots Hall is the first of 19 cup finals for his
CRUISIN’ for a Bluesin’ promise to give your lugholes a musical bullying at Blues at the Farm, Billericay, on Saturday afternoon. This five-piece has a wealth of experience and a set-list to match, ranging from instrumental jams with distinct Latin tendencies
SOUTHEND band TooRex are gearing up for a Valentine’s Day cosmic rock special – with a little help from the Echo. The popular Marc Bolan and T Rex tribute act promise a night of red-hot live music at the Riga Music Bar, Westcliff, on Saturday, February
THE Nigel Bagge Band makes a welcome return to the New Crawdaddy Blues Club, Crays Hill, tomorrow night. Nigel honed his sound as front man with the Mighty 45’s before forming, the ever-popular Blues Corporation, alongside singer and vocal coach Nicky
JAZZ funk specialists Protect the Beat provide the good time vibe at Churchill’s Cafe Bar, Southend, on Sunday afternoon. The band’s five top-class professional players mix up styles, citing funk and fusion influences including the Yellowjackets, the
A NEW open mic night, Unplugged, starts at the Kursaal function suite, on Southend seafront, on, February 4. All musicians are welcome to turn up and play at the venue, on Eastern Esplanade, and give their all in front of an audience. Organiser Matthew
A BILLERICAY musician may finally get a taste of the big time, after years of hard graft. Piers Hewitt, 28, plays drums for The Boxer Rebellion, a four-piece band who are taking the US download market by storm. Their new album, Union, was released earlier
