ESSEX band the Dead Formats offer their take on punk when they play at the Railway Hotel, Southend, on Saturday. With music as sharp as their dress sense, the six boys from Chelmsford recapture the style of sound that brought bands like the Clash and
Grant Flower was the star of Essex's 36-run Twenty20 Cup triumph over Kent at Chelmsford that enabled them to join their opponents at the top of the Southern Division table. The 38-year-old Zimbabwean, hero of his side's Friends Provident Trophy success
WEST Ham captain Lucas Neill has rejected the terms of a new contract offer but has not ruled out staying with the club. The Australian, who joined West Ham from Blackburn in January 2007, is due to reach the end of his current deal at the end of June
THE Towngate theatre is this week transported to the Fifties as the Essex Group present West Side Story, Leonard Bernstein’s classic reworking of Romeo and Juliet, set in the gang-ravaged back alleys and sidewalks of the Big Apple. Having performed in
SOLDIERS are planning to drag a 12-ton helicopter 400m along a runway to raise cash for charity. Twenty soldiers from the Royal Anglian Regiment will take part in the race taking on nine other military teams in a dash, or more likely walk, to the finish
BEMUSED shoppers looked on as a wannabe politician launched his campaign to become an MP. Dominique Burrows, 41, of Bunters Avenue, Shoebury, kicked off his campaign in Southend High Street on Friday lunchtime. Watched by his young son, his maiden speech
TORY David Amess and Labour MP Angela Smith were the only two south Essex MPs to vote against reforms to the second homes allowance. Plans for external audits, a reduction of the threshold of receipts from £25 to zero and a ban on furniture
AT LEAST 300 travellers could be rehoused by Basildon Council, if the authority forces them out of their illegal site. So far, 170 adults and 130 children, members of the Dale Farm community, at Crays Hill, have asked for alternative accommodation.
SICK yobs trashed a swan’s nest killing all of her young days before they were due to hatch. It is the third time the bird, who lives on the lake in Northlands Park, has lost her young. The thugs smashed all four eggs after hurling stones
THE mayor of Southend has said he is expecting an apology, after being left high and dry at a VIP lunch. Southend Council pre-booked lunches at the Cliffs Pavilion, costing £50 a head, for 110 dignitaries during the bank holiday weekend’s airshow. The
ESSEX Tory candidates are being urged to target celebrities and aristocrats to raise “at least” three times the amount of cash they are allowed to spend on campaigns. As the issue of MPs’ expenses still dominates headlines, it has emerged a guidebook
A BLACK cab driver has spoken of the terrifying moment he escaped with his life following a hit-and-run smash on the A13. David Jones, 60, was shunted off the road by a car near Sadlers Farm roundabout, and span into trees and bushes above a 6ft drop
A BUSINESSWOMAN from Wickford judged a culinary cook-off with two of TV’s most outlandish food lovers, the Hairy Bikers. Sarah Fay, 37, was chosen to be part of the judging team for a competition filmed for the Bikers’ new TV series. As part of their
A WOMAN was held prisoner in a beauty parlour after refusing to pay for a nail job. Jana Nowack, 31, was locked in Devine Nails, in London Road, Hadleigh, for more than half an hour after she would not stump up £16 for having her fake nails refilled.
A FATHER has been sentenced for religious harassment after a row in a job centre. Jobless John Sullivan, 46, made the remark to a worker at Southend’s job centre, in Tylers Avenue. Southend Magistrates’ Court heard how Sullivan had been in the branch
A PENSIONER was left suffering the effects of smoke inhalation after trying to put out a chip pan fire. The 67-year-old of The Finches, Thundersley, had just returned from a holiday to celebrate his birthday when he left a chip pan on the heat. He attempted
DARTH Vader, a dalek and Sherlock Holmes were just some of the colourful characters who waded through mud and water to do their bit for charity. More than 600 people took part in Southend’s first ever mud run to raise cash for the Little Havens Children
A NEW support group for sufferers of hepatitis C is being launched. The group will aim to help people across Basildon and Thurrock who are living with the serious infection and those who have been cured. Hepatitis C is an infection transmitted through
DETECTIVES probing a brutal attack on a young mum will be renewing their appeal for help more than three years on from the assault. Ann-Marie Cuffy, 26, had been on a night out at the Circus Tavern in Purfleet when trouble flared. She
THREE children sought refuge in a Canvey garden centre after they were chased by more than 30 youngsters. The three boys, about 11 years old, fled into Garden World, in Canvey Road, hotly pursued by the youths on bikes. According to store owner Dave
BRITAIN’S Got Talent star DJ Talent went down a storm at a night held in honour of a man with Down’s Syndrome who was brutally attacked by yobs. The rapper, who got through to the semi-finals of the talent contest, wowed crowds with the act
COUNCIL tenants are being warned to allow contractors to carry out gas safety checks or face tough action. Properties managed by South Essex Homes, on behalf of Southend Council, are annually checked by gas contractors, P H Jones. However, some residents
A PLEA is being issued to fundraisers to continue to support Lady McAdden’s charity appeal. The breast screening unit in Westcliff, known as Bust, launched its Go for Bust Digital Imaging Appeal in January to raise £250,000 for a new digital mammography
A LEADING Southend businessman has pleaded with Southend Council to maintain its support for a new town centre Tesco store to boost trade. Bill Harkness, managing director of the company which owns the Victoria shopping centre, said it would be a disaster
RELIEVED residents have welcomed plans to finally bulldoze eight condemned houses which had become a magnet for vandals. Basildon Council has given developers Lovell the go-ahead to knock-down the empty houses in Winter Folly, Laindon, after two years
THE death of a baby girl at Basildon Hospital was not linked to the discovery of damaged drip bags. Police launched a probe into the three year old's girl's death in April. She died on the hospital's children's ward just hours before
VILLAGERS who are fighting to save their local pub from being turned into flats have won another victory. Rochford district councillors rejected plans to convert the Chequers, in Canewdon, into four flats with two bungalows behind. The
THE number of people diagnosed with diabetes in Castle Point has shot up past the national average. New figures show that 4.2 per cent of adults in the borough were diagnosed with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes last year. The previous year it was
A GROUP of cyclists is limbering up for a gruelling ride to Paris as they set out to raise £15,000 for two charities. Backed by a four-strong support crew, 16 riders from across south Essex will head for the Channel from London, on Thursday. Raising
A POPULAR bike ride across a mysterious Ministry of Defence island in south Essex is back after an absence of three years. For nine years, up to 2,000 cyclists took part in the charity ride around Foulness, raising more than £175,000. But after the
HUDDERSFIELD Town have joined the race to sign Southend United’s Peter Clarke. Echosport exclusively revealed on Friday that Charlton Athletic are keen to snap up the defender whose contract will soon expire at Roots Hall. But Huddersfield
WHEN the going gets tough, it’s easy to find comfort in food, but sadly the after-effects often bring their own misery. One woman who knows this first-hand is Angelina Poulton, 35, who, after giving up smoking four years ago, found food filled
THOUSANDS of women donned pink outfits and ran in the blazing sunshine to raise money for cancer sufferers. The Southend Race for Life took place in scorching weather yesterday as participants walked, jogged or ran to raise hundreds of thousands of
A FIERCE blaze has left a 100-year-old cottage uninhabitable. The semi-detached home went up in flames about 10.30am yesterday morning in South Street, Rochford. The householder, a man thought to be in his fifties, is being found alternative accommodation
A MAN needed hospital treatment after he was attacked on Southend seafront. Three men have been arrested following the assault near the Kursaal in Southend which left the victim with head injuries. It took place about 1.35am on Saturday morning. Essex
SOUTHEND and Basildon hospitals are doing more to support obese patients. Staff have been working together with the fire and ambulance services, funeral directors and the Health and Safety Executive to make sure heavier patients are treated with the
CANNABIS worth £1.5million was seized by police after a van was stopped on an Essex motorway. The van was stopped on the M11 near Stansted Airport as part of a police crackdown on driving offences and to stop the motorway network being used
