COUNTDOWN star Rachel Riley will open the new £2.9 million Shoebury Youth Centre next week. Miss Riley, from Thorpe Bay and co-host of the hit Channel Four show, will cut the ribbon at 12 noon on Saturday, July 17, to launch the state-of-the art
FIREFIGHTERS from Essex and Kent are trying to trace the cause of smoke in the Channel Tunnel rail link in Thurrock. Crews from Grays, Orsett, Corringham and Brentwood stations were called about 5.50pm today to the link, which is in Oliver Road near
AVRAM Grant chose his first official outing as West Ham manager to insist that he alone will be in charge of first-team affairs at Upton Park this season. Previous manager Gianfranco Zola endured a fractious relationship with owners David Gold and
TWO MEN who became stuck in mud at Leigh Marina had to be rescued by firefighters. The pair, though to be in the forties, were stuck about 50 yards from the shore near Leigh railway station. Crews from Southend and Leigh stations were called about
BASILDON’S South Essex Gymnastics Club have enjoyed more than their fair share of success over the last few weeks. Seventeen gymnasts went to compete at the recent Bury Spectrum floor and vault competition. Erin Bellman took the gold medal and won the
A CONTROVERSIAL £1million revamp of Basildon Golf Course is in doubt after the Environment Agency rejected an application to use waste on the development. Basildon Golf Centre wanted to use about 140,000 tonnes of building spoil to reshape the course
CENTURION Rettendon openers J Roworth and J Wall helped set up a 274-run thumping of Danbury in Division Two. Roworth hit 127 off 100 balls and Wall 107 from 110 deliveries for a first wicket stand of 199. Mark Everitt added 60 off 51
SUSPECTED counterfeit booze was seized from a Leigh off licence over fears for drinkers’ safety. HM Revenue & Customs officers swooped on Jays supermarket, in London Road, and carried away 92 bottles of vodka and brandy. It is believed the 78 litres
STAN Ferguson and Brian Rackham were runaway winners when Rochford Hundred held their qualifier for the Kindred Club Greensome competition. The 36-hole final is to be held at Southend Golf Club's Belfairs course on July 18 and Ferguson and Rackham romped
A MUSICIAN who was left paralysed from the neck down in a road crash, is to conduct a concert using just his head. Clarence Adoo, 49, who grew up in Shoebury, was considered to be one of the UK’s best trumpet players before he almost died in a freak
A MAN had to be rescued from Prittlewell Brook by fire crews this afternoon. Crews from Southend and Rochford stations were called about 2pm. The 40-year-old had fallen into the brook, at Highfield Crescent, Westcliff, injuring both of his ankles and
A COUNTY council contractor made a 50-mile round-trip to collect water in Kent for a wildlife operation on Canvey. Essex County Council has employed environment firm Country Style Group to relocate great crested newts from land near Roscommon Way, Canvey
THREE cars have crashed in a busy Southend road. The accident took place at 3.10pm in Sutton Road at the junction with Boscombe Road, temporarily blocking it. It involved a silver Vauxhall Vectra, a black Ford Focus and a blue Ford Fiesta.
TEMPERATURES and tempers soared when the air conditioning failed at the Cliffs Pavilion – but that didn’t stop 82-year-old comic Ken Dodd. Mr Dodd didn’t disappoint the thousands of fans who had paid to see his show and he battled on until midnight.
A FOOD and nutrition awareness day at the Royals shopping centre hosted by Southend Hospital’s catering management team will urge people to think more about what they eat. The event, which will take place next Wednesday, July 14 will highlight
ALMOST 50 playing members together with many helpers and other colleagues turned out in force to make it a special captains day for the popular Terry Steel. In splendid sunny conditions there were many fine prizes to be won with the majority only able
SIMON Francis has been given a free transfer by Southend United. The right-back, who was Blues' player of the season last year, had a year left on his contract at Roots Hall. But he is now searching for another club. FULL STORY
ESSEX Pirates’ Colin Sing thoroughly enjoyed his latest taste of international action — despite picking up a succession of injuries. Sing was part of the Great Britain under-23 squad for an four-team tournament in Lille from against France,
SOUTHEND United have signed Peter Gilbert and Barry Corr on pre-contract agreements. Left-back Gilbert and striker Corr have signed agreements to join Blues once the transfer embargo currently placed on the football club is lifted. Both players
SOUTHEND United has won a temporary reprieve against going into administration over a £238,000 tax debt. Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs today applied for an order at the High Court to send administrators in to run the company, branding it
ENGLAND World Cup legend Sir Geoff Hurst popped into a new house to visit the parents of ill children. Sir Geoff, who famously scored a hat-trick in the victory over West Germany in 1966, visited Basildon Hospital’s Ronald McDonald House.
SOUTHEND United have laid off call centre staff at the club in the wake of mounting financial pressure. Young people employed to sell Southend United branded products to shops and season ticket holders and to sell advertising space for the club were
I have been on record as opposing fishing on Canvey Lake as far back as 1991. I accept fishing is the country’s most popular participation sport, but for me and many others the pursuit and torment of animals for pleasure is unacceptable. Because
I am a pensioner who cycles every day and have a five-minute ride before reaching the cycle path along Southend seafront. I always use the footpath to reach the cycle path. With the lack of consideration of some car drivers, I feel it is the
A WORLD record attempt on Southend seafront in August needs 40 volunteers willing to ride a rollercoaster naked. The Green Scream at Adventure Island will be the ride and the record attempt will raise money for the Bosom Pals Appeal at Southend Hospital
Can I encourage James Duddridge, MP for Rochford and Southend East, to add to his franchise requirements the desire for more fast trains to Fenchurch Street from and to Southend? The best pattern time is 53 minutes, although you can get the
It seems certain the referendum on a change to the voting system for the House of Commons will be held on the same day as local authority elections next year, May 5. I am an electoral reformer, and will be campaigning for a Yes vote. The alternative
SCHOOLS in south Essex will miss out on more than £100million of Government funding after a nationwide project to rebuild and refurbish schools was axed. The £55billion Building Schools for the Future programme to revamp every secondary school
I have been following your reports concerning the LBS clamping company since my son was clamped and had to pay more than £555 to get his vehicle back. He parked behind some shops in Southend, in the same place he has parked for years. On his
LITTLE Havens Children’s Hospice in Thundersley and brain tumour charity Anna’s Hope are each better off to the tune of £1,000 courtesy of an operatic gala lunch. At the event, at the Dining Room restaurant in London Road, Leigh, guests tucked into Cantonese-style
IT will be a day to remember for one couple who have put together their dream wedding using the internet auction site Ebay. Kevin Wilsher, 35, and Lisa Vaughan, 27, have spent the past two months trawling through countless pages on the website looking
A TINY dog's spine was broken and its lung punctured when it was savaged by a Staffordshire bull terrier. Valerie Nutley said she has been left devastated and unable to even eat or sleep since the horrific incident. Her two-year-old miniature Yorkshire
A ROW has broken out over weeds on Southend beaches. Stretches of beach east of the Golden Mile are turning a distinct shade of green. Critics say the beaches have been left looking unkempt and neglected despite being tended by council contractors regularly
A BANK card stolen from a car was used to buy £300 of goods. The unlocked car was in Ayles-beare, Shoebury, when the thieves got in and stole the card, as well as £300 of power tools. Police want to speak to anyone who saw anything suspicious between
A GROUP of eight heroes who flew Lancaster bombers during the Second World War shared their memories at a reunion. There were two Essex airmen among the veterans who gathered together, at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire. The men, who together would have
A WOMAN was rescued from her roof as a blaze swept towards her flat. The 30-year-old woman was in her flat in London Road, Hadleigh, when her home became engulfed in thick plumes of smoke around 12.37am. A blaze had spread from a nearby car and fence
POLICE are appealing to anyone who believes their car may have been tampered with to contact them. Officers in Southend would like to hear from any people who had vehicles parked in Silverdale Avenue, West Road, London Road, Fairfax Drive and Electric
THIS is the moment the seawall was breached in south Essex creating a new wildlife reserve. The 30-hectare site at the London Gateway superport, off Wharf Road, in Stanford-le-Hope, has been created to provide a feeding area for birds flying south for
CHURCHGOERS have taken a new approach in the fight to repair the tower at their church, by giving people a chance to be part of its history. Parishioners at Holy Trinity church, in Rayleigh, have sent a letter to every house in the town asking for help
BLUES chairman Ron Martin’s main UK business owes the taxman more than £96,000, it has been revealed. Martin Dawn PLC, a property development company, is facing a winding up petition from Revenue and Customs. It means even if Southend United avoid being
A RESCUE horse has become the proud mother of a healthy foal at the grand old age of 22. Workers at Essex Horse and Pony Protection Society, in Pitsea Hall Lane, Pitsea, were not sure Poppy, a mare they rescued in May, would survive such a late pregnancy
