Claire Borley

THE Growing Together garden is a finalist in a national award.

IT all started with what seemed like a crazy idea. But this weekend, months of planning come to fruition when the skies over the county will be filled with colourful hot air balloons for the first ever Essex Spectacular on Saturday and Sunday.

STEAK is a funny thing. Cooked to your liking right it can be one of the most delicious of meals. Done wrong however and it can taste like the sole of someone’s old shoe on a plate.

FOLK lovers may have to wait until the end of June for their total Leigh Folk festival fix, but this year the organisers have cooked up something special to whet appetites.

YOU may wince as the needle goes in, but once your blood has been taken do you give second thought to what happens to it after your blood test?

FOLLOWING the success of their debut concert, Southend’s newest choir will be performing again on Saturday Southend Vox was set up by Emma Turnbull in January, and this weekend sees the choir’s second concert at Crowstone United Reformed Church, following their debut in June.

BRINGING up sons, aged six and four, as a single mum would be a challenge for most people. But for 28-year-old Lisa Hogwood the task is even more daunting as her eldest son has severe learning difficulties.

IT SHOULD be one of the happiest times of your life, but research has shown many mums-to-be spend the majority of their pregnancy in a perpetual state of worry.

ACTRESS Kierston Wareing brought a touch of glamour to the official opening of the Harp second-hand shop in Westcliff.

WHAT was once an Essex farming family’s informal gathering of half a dozen steam engines is now one of the largest events of its type.