SOUTH Essex players performed well at the annual Essex County Junior Closed Lawn Tennis Championships. The week-long event, which features the cream of young tennis talent from around the county, took place at Thorpe Bay tennis club. There were successes
TRAVELLERS have offered to leave the illegal Dale Farm site to avoid the planned £18million eviction. Representatives for the camp met council leader Tony Ball to ask if he would call off the eviction if they moved onto the legal part of the
THE cream came to the top in Rochford Hundred’s biggest competition in the club’s calendar – a 36-hole scratch and handicap day on Sunday. Nearly 100 teed-up and the much coveted scratch prize went to Rochford’s best player – Jimmy Dale who plays off
SOUTHEND Pier will stay closed to the public for at least a fortnight while repairs are carried out. It will be closed for two weeks while temporary repairs are made to the walkway and support pilings which were damaged on Tuesday. Contractors
COUNCIL chiefs have issued a “use it or lose it” ultimatum to shoppers over the future of a struggling market. Bosses at Southend Council say they will scrap the revamped York Road market unless trade picks up significantly in the next few
A NEW future is greeting students at Belfairs High School in Leigh as the school reopens for the autumn term in its £31million new building. The new school is packed with modern technology. Its opening comes as the school celebrates record exam results
SEVENTY-TWO cadets from all over Essex came to Thorpe Hall to compete for the annual Cadets Open. The competition was strokeplay and there were five players with net scores of 67. On countback, the winner was Toby Gibbons, of Thorpe Hall, with a gross
CAMPAIGNERS say they are the closest they have ever been to having the controversial Felmores bail hostel moved. Hundreds of people living near Felmores bail hostel in Basildon were planning to march through the area on Saturday. However
WITH regards to the future of the Southend Festival, I would hope everyone can get together over the coming weeks and iron out any problems. The one thing you know when you play there is you always get a result wicket, and that’s what we all want. We
A TESCO delivery driver has admitted illegally crossing a weight restricted bridge. He became the third person to be prosecuted for the same offence at the same spot in recent weeks. John Green, 44, of Roach, East Tilbury, drove across the Ravenscroft
CLEARANCE of nuisance weeds around Canvey town centre is being delayed because they have been made “toxic” by car fumes, council chiefs have said. Residents are becoming increasingly angry with the number of weeds sprouting from pavements, kerbs
ESSEX County Cricket Club’s commercial manager Danny Macklin has insisted a decision on the future of Southend’s Cricket Festival is by no means “done and dusted.” The Echo reported yesterday how some members of the county’s committee were recommending
DULCIE Sverdloff will get her first cap next week after being called up to the England team. The 16-year-old Ballards Gore cadet member will be competing for England against Scotland on Monday at the Kilmarnock (Barassie) Golf Club in Scotland. It is
A REWARD is being offered for information about an unprovoked racist attack on a man in front of his teenage son. The Crimestoppers charity is offering £1,000 if they have information leading the arrest and charge of the people responsible
THERE is nothing more frustrating than being injured when you’re footballer. Your days are long and while you’re doing your recovery work you can see the rest of the lads out there training, which is where you want to be. The good news is that my
STUART Bingham said he felt in great shape as he brushed aside the precocious Judd Trump in China. The 35-year-old from Vange hit two centuries as he romped past the 22-year-old from Romford at the Shanghai Masters. Shortly after claiming the 5-1
SOUTHEND United midfielder Jean-Paul Kalala will today return to training after recovering from a groin injury. The Frenchman has not figured for Blues since the 1-0 defeat to Burton Albion last month. But he believes he will be fit to face Swindon
POLICE are hunting for a man wanted in connection with wounding with intent and false imprisonment. Daniel Milner, 33, of Marlow Gardens in Southend was arrested on suspicion of assaulting and falsely imprisoning a 57-year-old man in March 2011 but
POLICE are hunting a trickster wanted in connection with frauds across South Essex. The man went into a petrol station in Church Road, Benfleet on July 12 this year and tried to use a cloned credit card to pay for fuel. He eventually left without paying
TWINS Jessica and Jennifer Osborn will be among the first people to take part in the Olympic torch relay when it visits Essex next summer. The six-year-olds, from Canvey, will play a part in an evening celebration in Chelmsford because they were born
HEALTHCARE must never be privatised. That was the simple message being spelled out by dozens of protesters outside Southend Hospital, as they made their feelings known about the Government’s Health and Social Care Bill. The controversial
AN explosive-laden shipwreck could sink plans for a new airport in the Thames estuary. A new report says leaving the SS Richard Montgomery, lying off the Southend shoreline is not a long-term option. The ship is becoming an increasing
AN MP has launched a scathing attack on female BBC newsreaders - suggesting they might have had "too much botox". David Amess, the Conservative representative for Southend West, complained that "one or two" of the corporation's top women stars
A BRAVE schoolboy stepped in after he saw a woman being attacked in the street. The 16-year-old saw Craig Claydon, 30, having a row with his girlfriend, Tanya Thompson, in Fossets Way, Southend, when he began to assault her. The boy confronted Clay-don
A NEW seafront casino could blow a huge hole in Southend United’s £100million development plans for Fossetts Farm. Rank Group originally planned to set up its gambling centre in the football club’s new retail park, which would be built alongside
NEIGHBOURS who have put up with yobs taking drugs and causing trouble for years, have thanked the council for sorting out the problem. People in Rayside, Basildon, have been campaigning for years to have 36 empty garages demolished and railings put up
A PUBLIC meeting will be held this weekend after councillors voiced concerns Billericay could soon be transformed into “pub alley” Borough councillors, worried the town is becoming overrun with bars have taken the unsual step of organising the meeting
ESSEX Chief Constable Jim Barker-McCardle has agreed to call in the Met police to investigate expenses claims by Essex Police Authority. The authority had instructed its auditors to investigate expenses overpayments to members of the authority. The
THREE kittens found abandoned in a cardboard box next to Canvey Lake have been taken in by a vet. The seven-week-old kittens were found dumped in the pouring rain by the side of the lake by a member of the public. They took the soaking wet kittens to
A MUM has said any dog which bites a human should be destroyed after her daughter was bitten by a golden retriever. Vicky Oliver, 42, of Norwich Avenue, Southend, wants the law toughened up after her daughter Jamie-Lee Hicks, nine, was attacked
A PAIR of dogs called Ronnie and Reggie will not be destroyed after biting a man in Basildon. The dogs, who are both a cross between a rottweiler and dogue de Bordeaux, escaped from a house in Whitmore Way, and attacked Christopher McGhee,
HALF the spectators travelling to next summer’s Olympic mountain biking in Hadleigh are expected to use trains. About 10,000 ticket holders will use Leigh railway station, 7,200 will travel by car and use dedicated park-and-ride schemes, 1,000
