Pemberton Field is a modern residential close in South Fambridge. You could walk through it, or fly over it, a thousand times and be unaware of its significance. Only the name gives anything away. The ground beneath these homes and gardens is historic
TWO women were hurt when they fell into a basement on a building site. A crew from Leigh fire station was called to help ambulance crews rescue the women from the hole, on a site in Woodside, Leigh, at 4.45pm yesterday. The rescue took 45 minutes. Firefighter
TWO cars collided during a crash on the A13 near Stanford-le-Hope. The accident took place on the Southend-bound carriageway about 3.20pm today. An ambulance was called but there are no details of injuries. Firefighters from Orsett
A SERIAL burglar who broke into a shop and a beauty salon while on bail for another burglary offence has been jailed. James Taylor, 30, burgled a hairdressers in Southend only a month after being caught red-handed at the scene of another break-in.
HUNDREDS of wildcat strikers have gone back to work at Coryton oil refinery and Tilbury power station, but more industrial action could take place next week. About 500 workers returned to their jobs yesterday after two days of unofficial strikes. Workers
A DRUGS firm rocked by a fake medicine probe says it has tightened up controls following the incident. Brian McEwan, general manager of Waymade, said the company, based in Basildon, already had stringent protocols in place around the drug suppliers.
DAVID Lloyd moved up into second place in Leigh & Westcliff LTA’s Mixed Division Five. The Snakes Lane club hosted Kent Elms IV in the Eastwood derby and overtook their visitors in the standings thanks to a 4-1 win. Will Todd and Keiko Petchey got
MORE than 6,000 people have now signed the petition calling for the State Cinema in Grays not to be converted into shops and flats. Campaigners presented the petition to Thurrock Council at the recent full council meeting. It urges the council to push
A GLAMOUROUS evening of dancing and fundraising is being organised by Basildon Hospital. The hospital is hosting the black tie Touch of Pink Ball at the David Lloyd Centre at the Festival Leisure Park, on Saturday April 25. The event is in aid of the
A NEW £500,000 playcentre is to open in Lakeside shopping centre on Friday, March 6. Partyman World Lakeside, in Brompton Walk, will feature a soft play area, sports arena, slides, ball cannons and a spooky maze. The Partyman company, which also has
A MAN who ignored warnings and repeatedly put out his rubbish early has been ordered to pay £300. Kenny Knight, 26, was taken to court by Basildon Council after he failed to pay earlier fines for twice leaving his black sacks out in the street. He was
THE latest victim of the weather is Southend’s Millennium Clock. Standing at the top of Southend High Street, the clock frequently stops because of the weather. Now the council is looking for an indoor location which will protect it.
AN OLD church which has survived 80 years longer than expected could be knocked down and rebuilt. Committee members from St Michael’s and All Angels Church in St Michael’s Road, Daws Heath, are deciding whether they can raise enough cash for the project
CAMPAIGNERS are celebrating after Essex Ford’s proposals to build a car park on green belt land were rejected. The company applied for planning permission to build a car park with 104 spaces on land next to its dealership, off Stadium Way, Benfleet.
ASK most smokers if they would like to give up and the resounding answer will be yes. But the health authority for Southend, Rochford and Castle Point is missing its target for the number of people who are quitting. To combat the problem, NHS South
WEST Ham sporting director Gianluca Nani insists the Barclays Premier League side are not interested in signing Samuele Dalla Bona. The Italian midfielder, who spent four years at Chelsea before joining AC Milan in 2002, offered his services to West
A NEW railway station linking Southend Airport with London could be operational by the end of the year. Discussions have been taking place between Network Rail, National Express and the Department for Transport over building the station. Yesterday officials
A 21-YEAR-OLD who lashed out and left a man with multiple fractures to his face was ordered to carry out 80 hours unpaid work for the community. Dominic Nwajiobi attacked Stephen Williams, 39, in York Road, Southend. Nwajiobi admitted inflicting grievous
RESIDENTS living close to Southend Hospital have set up a pressure group to tackle the problem of dangerous and obstructive parking in their roads. Neighbours are fed-up with patients, visitors and staff parking in residential streets surrounding the
TALENTED fashion students showed off some unusual collections when they put on a catwalk show. Textile students at Seevic College, in Thundersley, created clothes using old CDs, sweet wrappers and magazines as part of a brief to create clothes with
SPECIALIST goalkeeping coaches Paul Griffin and Dean Neil will be holding two of their popular Safehands courses for youngsters during the half-term holidays. They are at Basildon’s Markhams Chase Sports Centre on February 16 and East Thurrock United
SOUTHEND-based Team Viper celebrated a very successful 2008 season when athletes and families gathered at the Wick Community Centre, Wickford, for their annual presentations. Not only were athletes able to herald successes, the team were able to raise
A TEENAGER was mugged walking home from Tuesday’s cancelled Southend United game. Blues fan Ashley Gay, 16, was one of hundreds of disgruntled fans forced to leave Roots Hall when the clash with Scunthorpe United was called off at the last
TIME is running out to cast your votes in this year’s Echo Sports Personality of the Year awards. We have again received thousands of entries for the event which takes place at Basildon’s Sky Bar on Wednesday, February 25. And the final
IN very cold and heavy conditions Belfairs Golf Club staged their February medals at the weekend. On Friday, Tony Ball was pick of the bunch as his excellent net 66 off 20 handicap just edged evergreen Harry Burke (14) who was very steady with his 67
A FORMER headteacher with a talent for landscape painting is exhibiting his work at Billericay library. Self-taught artist, Mike Hill, 64, who has been delighting art-lovers with his collection of scenic views, has returned home to display his paintings
MORE than 700 homes in the more rural parts of Basildon district are set to receive recycling collections for the first time. Basildon Council is extending doorstep collections of its pink sack and glass recycling schemes to Little Burstead, Old Nevendon
STEPS are being taken to make sure the next census for Southend is accurate and the council secures the funding it is entitled to. The issue of preparing for the 2011 census was raised by Southend West MP David Amess in Parliament after the
BLUES players and staff joined schoolchildren at Roots Hall to launch a three-year campaign tackling attitudes to mental illness. Pupils from Cecil Jones College, Chase High School and students from the South East Essex College and the Vineyard youth
A SUPERMARKET has paid £100 compensation to a family who found used condoms in a packaging around four cans of beer. Derek Halliday, 48, of Glenmore Street, South- church, said his 18-year-old daughter Hannah was sick after discovering them. Mr Halliday
A TEAM of consultants are being paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to help draw up controversial plans to transform the way Essex County Council is run, it is claimed. A report into council spending has revealed an extra £727,000 was allocated
A ROW has broken out between a mini-cab firm and taxi drivers about pick-ups outside Pitsea station. Markings appeared before Christmas on three parking bays outside the Pitsea Station, stating they were reserved for A and B Taxis. This annoyed hackney
AMBULANCES have been banned from going under height-restricted bridges because radio antennas make them too tall. The East of England Ambulance Service introduced the policy preventing their drivers taking ambulances under low bridges in the county after
KEEN all-round sportsman Richard Hayes drove in as the new captain of Rochford Hundred on Sunday. Educated at Westcliff High School, Hayes joined Westminster Bank in Southend in 1965. He represented his school at rugby and also played for the bank.
AN army of volunteers is helping children to have fun across Southend. A team of 70 helpers entertains youngsters at children’s centres from Shoebury to Leigh. Their jobs range from storytelling to gardening. The children’s centres offer a range of
SIMON Francis has been getting plenty of stick this week. He went on a shopping trip to London with his girlfriend and is claiming to have been approached by a representative from Abercrombie and Finch who enquired whether he had ever considered
THERE was a tense match in the Southend Association mixed premier division between Westcliff and FitzWimarc first teams. Marie Baker with Neil Raven got away side Fitz off to a good start and Angela McDaniell with Martin Everitt extended this. Ben
SIMON Francis is hoping his versatility can help the Shrimpers triumph at Swindon Town this Saturday. The 23-year-old, who normally figures at right back, had been playing in the centre of the defence before switching to the right wing last weekend
A couple of weeks ago my husband and I visited Paul Van Looy’s fish and chip shop in Clifftown Road, Southend, for the first time. The first thing we noticed was the utter cleanliness of this place. Then, we were really impressed with the fish and chip
A BURST water pipe has caused a road to close on Southend seafront. The pipe is thought to have sprung a leak in Eastern Esplanade last night. The leak, near Lifstan Way, meant the road was closed off to morning traffic today
I am a service engineer for a national company. I clock up somewhere in the region of 30,000 to 40,000 miles a year. I have been driving for 24 years, in which time I have only been fined for speeding once. Recently, I was caught by a mobile camera
In her letter (Jan 23), Cllr Anne Wood was highly critical of the cabinet system being operated at Castle Point Council. I would like to assure her and Echo readers that this system is working very well. The old committee system created endless meetings
What great news for the gridlocked residents of our borough. Due to the financial situation the country finds itself facing, a temporary hold has been put on the development of a new football stadium, hotel, apartments and shopping centre, to be built
RONNIE Biggs received 30 years for robbing the public of millions of pounds. May I pose the question, will the so-called financial experts and speculators who have lost tax payers billions of pounds receive a similar sentence? After all they have
Here we go again. Another month’s rainfall fell overnight causing chaos and flooding around the roads on Canvey (Jan 26). Ray Howard telling everyone there are still a few places where they are trying to improve defences, but we do have 14 pumps around
A HEADTEACHER who kept her school open throughout the worst snowfall in 18 years said she was doing it to set a good example. St Katherine’s Primary in Hilton Road, Canvey, was one of only 50 Essex schools that opened its doors despite the weather.
p> A STEELWORKER who suffered serious burns in an industrial accident is recovering and in a stable condition in hospital. Health and safety bosses are investigating after the 40-year-old man was airlifted to hospital after the accident at Industrial
TWO women were seriously injured after falling into a basement on a building site. It happened at a site in Woodside, Leigh, about 4.45pm on Tuesday. One woman was taken to hospital on a stretcher with suspected spinal injuries, while
A LOTTO winner who resorted to selling cannabis from his home after falling into debt has been jailed for 16 months. The £500,000 home of Richard Storey, who won £1.25m in a lottery syndicate in 1999, was raided by police last September after
A PROLIFIC charity fundraiser has been presented with a trophy to mark his performance on a Lands End to John O’Groats cycle ride. Rudy Weeber, 71, took on the gruelling ride last May, while fighting prostate cancer. He rode the 920 miles in 13 days
A SCHOOL in Leigh received a visit from staff at a school in Nigeria. Saint Pierre School, in Leigh Road, welcomed a group of delegates from St Saviour’s School in Lagos. The visiting group was given a tour of the independent school with St Pierre’s
BRAVE bar staff are set to make a leap of faith to raise money for Havens Hospices. James Lovell, 19, and Laura O’Brien, 24, will be calling time at the Canvey Conservative Club where both work to take part in skydive over Maidstone, Kent, in April.
A NEW street cleaner has been patrolling a Basildon estate. Residents on the Redbrick estate, off Long Riding, in Vange, have seen the benefits of the council’s new beat sweep, a cleaner who patrols the estate on foot every day, picking up litter, ripping
POLICE recovered suspected stolen jewellery from a pawnbrokers in Southend. Officers want to trace the owners of the haul, which includes two silver wedding bands in sizes R and S. There are also gold rings which spell out Mum and Dad, a gold pendant
