A POLICE operation left both London-bound carriageways of the A13 closed off with tailbacks leading up to the Five Bells roundabout. The incident happened at the sliproad leading onto junction 30 of the M25 and the police closed the road. A police spokesman
A FIVE-CAR pile up left traffic backing up along the Southend-bound carriageway of the A127. The crash happened just before the Progress Road junction when a Mini and four other cars were involved in a collision. Firefighters pushed the cars out of
A MAN accused of kidnapping a man who he said was like his "little brother" could face a retrial. The jury in the case of Eric Rudanec, 45, were discharged yesterday after they were unable to decide if he was involved with Robbie Stenning in the kidnap
PARTIALLY sighted sailer Lucy Hodges have been making waves both in and out of the water. For the Rochford based 31-year-old not only won all five of her races at the RYA Sailability Multi Class Regatta. But she has also impressed in the swimming
A TEENAGER who impaled himself on his bike's handlebars in a horrific fall says he is determined to walk and ride again. Vincent Hoskings, 13, of Seventh Avenue, Canvey, was left fighting for his life after a freak fall which drove the handlebar straight
DAPHNE Wood started finals weekend at the 62nd Southend Ladies Open Bowling Tournament with a chance of winning three prestigious trophies - but had to be content with one. Buckhurst Hill's appropiately-named Wood first tackled the singles at Priory
A convicted child rapist who went on the run from a mental unit following a shopping trip has been banned from any further outings - for now. At Basildon Crown Court, Judge Philip Clegg revealed it was the fourth time Patrick Cash, 35, had gone missing
Southend United Football Club are planning to hold a roadshow for youngsters at King George V playing field one Wednesday in August. Rayleigh Town Council members will consider the request at a meeting tonight. The club plans to park a bus in Webster
LEIGH Cricket Club celebrated their centenary in style - with a jammed packed week of action. The highlight of the seven-day period was a match between Leigh and an MCC representative side at Chalkwell Park. The MCC came out convincing winners with
Not all of us would have the courage to get back on our bikes after such a close brush with death after being impaled. But that is what Canvey teenager Vincent Hoskings is vowing to do. It is a testament to the resilience and spirit of the brave 13
ANY parent of a child with a disability is often faced with difficulties. In many cases, specialist advice is easily available to them. However, things are not so easy for those who have deaf children. For the deaf, sign language and lip reading are
BUNGLING council contractors covered up yellow lines during resurfacing works - just three weeks after they had been painted. Residents in Laindon are fuming after fresh asphalt was laid over the markings, at the junctions where Great Knightleys meets
SOME residents forced to flee a block of flats after a huge blaze ripped through it are still waiting to move back home. The fire, at Mornington House, in Station Road, Westcliff, started on Thursday when first-floor resident Tom Walsh's television exploded
RESIDENTS and councillors are calling for a maze of alleyways on an estate to be closed in a bid to stem the tide of antisocial behaviour plaguing the area. The dark walkways off Central Avenue, Canvey, have become a magnet for teenage vandals, drug
BASILDON'S Labour group has been attacked for not coming up with any solution to the district's ongoing traveller site crisis. Ruling Tories made the claim after Labour voted against their response to a consultation over the need for future traveller
ANTON Ferdinand has vowed to stay and fight for his West Ham place - despite the growing competition for places at the heart of the Irons back-line. The England Under-21 international faces a tough battle to keep his name on Alan Curbishley's teamsheet
TRIBUTES have been pouring in for former Southend mayor Allan Cole, who has died after losing a long battle with cancer. Friends and fellow politicians spoke of the former Shoebury councillor's devotion to his family and the community right to the end
A MAN who lost his temper and broke a piece of plastic cladding on his neighbour's house has been ordered to pay a total of £475. A court was told Robbie Holliday, 21, of Second Avenue, Canvey, was angry when his neighbour made a comment about the death
BUNGLING council contractors partially covered over yellow lines during resurfacing works - just three weeks after they were painted. Residents in Laindon are fuming after fresh asphalt was laid over the markings, at the junctions where Great Knightleys
ALMOST 300 people caught with knives in Essex were let off with a caution - and 11 of those were youngsters carrying weapons in schools. The figures put Essex Police tenth out of the 39 forces in England and Wales for the number of cautions handed out
DESPITE suffering the frustration of a summer blighted by abhorrent weather conditions, Graham Napier is still enjoying his cricket. Now 27, the jovial all-rounder made his debut for Essex back in 1997. Since then, he has been forced to contend
A MAN was bundled into his home and threatened at knifepoint by a gang of masked robbers. The 50-year-old man had just pulled up outside his home and was at his front door when he was approached by the four men wearing balaclavas. They pushed him inside
WHILE West Ham's fans are universal in their praise for Mark Noble, the same cannot be said for the midfielder's hard-to-please friends. The 20-year-old's all-action performances were influential in keeping the Hammers in the Premier League last season
A NINE-YEAR-OLD girl who suffers from cerebral palsy was treated to a ride in a Jaguar that was re-built from scratch. Ever since Krista Hoare, of Felstead Road, Benfleet, first set eyes on the cherry red Jaguar, she has wanted to go for it a spin in
IT is a case of strange bedfellows at New Lodge where Arsenal fan Richard Crook's PLAS-TECH company are the new Billericay Town shirt sponsors. For Town chairman Steve Kent is a Spurs' fanatic. But South Woodham Ferrers' Crook, whose company install
TWO former Castle View School, Canvey, students are hammering away in their bids to hit the soccer big time with West Ham United. Both were in action for the Irons at the Sussex town of Lewes. At one time Tony Stokes and Carly Roache lived in the
FRUSTRATED residents were left sleep-deprived and angry when an all-night party kept people awake more than a mile away. Police fielded hundreds of calls as the large private party in Trenders Avenue, Rawreth, continued through Saturday night until late
WEST Ham should have no difficulty finding their way to Carrow Road tonight. No fewer than five of the current Irons squad have turned out in the distinctive yellow and green of the Hammers' latest pre-season opponents Norwich City. Goalkeeper Robert
GREAT Britain will announce their squad for the forthcoming World Athletics Championships today - but there will not be a place for Canvey decathlete Dean Macey. For the Commonwealth champion - who has previously won silver and bronze medals at the
Although I live on occasion with and detest the squat looks of their country folk and the cruelty of their treatment toward animals, the French at least are honest. We in the UK have become slaves to any petty group of objectors who have the Government's
Victor York is horrified about a primary school prom (July 24)! He says: "Let children enjoy their childhood while they can". Our children are growing up, it is not an act, it's biology not drama! I agree they should live life as a child as long a possible
GOLFERS teed off for charity and raised more than £1,182. Two teams competed for the Southchurch Cup at Garon Park Golf Club, to raise money for the baby unit at Southend Hospital in Prittlewell Chase. Sym Craven, 48, of Surbiton Road, Southend, organised
WORK will start later this summer on the commemmoration ground for Southend's Saxon king - if Camp Bling campaigners move off their protest site. Southend Council hopes the group will move off the land after it announced a revised road widening scheme
I trained at Rochford and Southend Hospital 1965-1968, returning in 1974-December 1975 as sister in charge of the regional eye unit. At that time I worked with Mr Choyce and Mr Rumble. I will be retiring from the NHS on the August 31, and would like
A PIANO teacher who struck a chord with hundreds of youngsters is retiring after more than 30 years. Daphne Rowland, 80, of Northumberland Crescent, Southend, has now stopped working at St Hilda's School, Westcliff, but still teaches singing and piano
A YOUNG couple were lucky to escape with their lives after their car flipped over in a crash. A 20-year-old man, from South Woodham Ferrers, and his 17-year-old girlfriend, from Rettendon, climbed out of the silver Renault Clio through the sunroof.
THAT heart-stopping moment of losing your children in a crowded place may now be solved with an incredibly simple tool. Families planning a day out at Southend seafront can now pick up specially-designed wristbands to make their children easier to find
A worried resident has labelled a junction in Grays a death trap. Trevor Howard, 40, says it is only a matter of time before someone is killed at the junction of Grove Road and Bridge Road, because of two contradicting signs. Mr Howard, of Argent Street
A farmers' market is being held on Saturday, between 9.30am and 12.30pm, in the WI Hall, in Market Square. Call 01702 547074 for more information.
A WOULD-BE van thief punched his victim in the face, then ran off empty-handed. The 28-year-old victim was walking through Swanstead, Vange, when a man demanded he hand over the keys to his van. But before the victim could do anything, the attacker
A WOMAN was lucky to escape with her life when she was hit by a car and dragged along on its bonnet after a nightclub row. The 21-year-old student had been enjoying a night out with her sister and friends at the Circus Tavern, in Arterial Road, Purfleet
A YOUNG hairdresser has snipped his way into the finals of a national competition. Paul Phillips, 20, who works at Strangeways, in Elm Road, Leigh, is one of just six finalists for the junior category in the British Hairdressing Business Awards. The
CONTRACTORS have chopped down a tree and put up new warning signs close to a controversial bus lane in an effort to make the road safer. Work to remove branches overhanging Chichester Road and improve visibility got under way earlier this week. The
THOUSANDS of Scouts from across the world are forging friendships at a huge jamboree in Essex. The Scout Association has billed the 21st World Scout Jamboree in Chelmsford as the biggest event in Scouting history. Robert Baden-Powell opened the first
An aboriginal-themed art and craft session with the Art Factory will be held at the King John School, in Shipwrights Drive, on Wednesday, August 15. The session runs from 10am to 11.30am and is for families with children from the age of four. It costs
COMEDIAN Mike Reid, who was due to perform in south Essex next month, has died aged 67 from a suspected heart attack. The entertainer, most famous for playing Frank Butcher in EastEnders, was due to perform an adults-only stand-up routine at the Palace
A COUPLE celebrated their big day with an unusual twist - by inviting guests to come dressed as Wild West characters. Canvey couple Theresa Kemp, 49, and John Woollard, 34, have been together for nine years and have a son, Travis, aged seven. The couple
DEAF children are losing out because it is so hard for parents to find courses teaching sign language so they can communicate with them. British Sign Language courses at South East Essex College in Southend are now so badly oversubscribed there is a
A coffee morning with book and cake stalls will be held at Bramerton Road Community Church. It will run from 10am until noon on Saturday, August 4.
A FORMER councillor has died after a long battle with cancer. Tony Nunn, who was 70, served as a Thurrock councillor for the Labour party throughout the Seventies the and Eighties. A committed trade unionist, Mr Nunn spent his working life as a train
POLICE are hunting this man who tried to drag a teenage girl into his car. The 15-year-old girl was walking along The Chase in Rayleigh at 10pm on Wednesday, when a light coloured car stopped and the man got out. He tried to force her into the car but
RESIDENTS' community spirit shone through as hundreds of families flocked to a fun day. Adults and children alike enjoyed the games and stalls on offer on at the second annual event, organised by the Friends of Craylands in Basildon. More than 700
SOUTHEND'S Lib Dem leader Graham Longley has launched an online petition calling for the bandstand to be reinstated at a temporary location as soon as possible. The move follows last week's pledge by the Tory administration to restore the bandstand at
The Art Ministry is running weekly creative workshops for the visually impaired. The sessions run every Monday from 11am until 1pm at the ministry's centre, next to the United Reformed Church, in Church Road. Participants can try their hand at basketry
KITE-SURFING, skateboarding and free-running were just a few of the extreme sports teenagers revelled in at Basildon's Gloucester Park. An urban festival, called Skate Park Daze, attracted around 500 youngsters who also got the chance to try quad-biking
BIG-HEARTED residents are being urged to lace up their trainers for this year's Basildon 5K run, in aid of Little Havens. The run will be held at Gloucester Park, with Corringham-based paralympic Gold medallist and Little Havens Patron, Danny Crates,
WORK is under way on a £40,000 programme of improvements to the sea wall at Shoebury's East Beach. The plan, involving a "mattress" system of steel mesh filled with rocks and rubble, is intended to help stop waves washing away the embankment. The
NEARLY 200 homes could be packed into the site of a former school. These are the first images of Bellway Homes's vision, for the recently demolished Laindon School, in High Road, Laindon. The development, which would be called Radford Park, would have
THOUSANDS of Scouts from across the world are forging friendships at a huge jamboree in Essex. The Scout Association has billed the 21st World Scout Jamboree in Chelmsford as the biggest event in Scouting history. Robert Baden-Powell opened the first
