WICKFORD High Street is set for a facelift after council chiefs agreed a £280,000 funding package. The cash will be spent on repaving and a putting down new road surface. Basildon Council leader Malcolm Buckley said: "Last year we set aside £90,000 for
A diabetic student is "fuming" after being asked for ID before using a library toilet room to take insulin injections. Marcu Algeorgieo Southernwood, a life-long diabetic, claims library staff asked for a medical card before he was allowed to use the
Nine is not enough! Richard Garcia has made that clear after he and his Colchester United team-mates smashed the club's successive wins record. Overjoyed - Richard Garcia celebrates after scoring the opener against Bradford City at Layer Road. Picture
Ipswich Town's teenage prodigy Owen Garvan believes the Blues can use their 2-1 win against Norwich City to power them to a play-off spot. The win in the East Anglian derby leapfrogged Town over their arch-rivals and pushed them back into the top half
Vandals went on the rampage in a quiet residential area leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. A group of youngsters struck in St Albans Road, Clacton, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage. One car had a brick thrown through the back windscreen
A 21-year-old Maldon motorist was one of two people who died in separate head-on collisions over the weekend. Stacey Doyle died when her Vauxhall Corsa car was in a collision with a Volkswagen Golf car in Mundon, near Maldon. Miss Doyle, of Browning Road
CRICKET bowled over the judges when it came to Castle Point Sports Council's annual awards. Britain's national summer sport claimed three of the four prizes open to it at the awards ceremony held at Castle Point council offices in Kiln Road, Thundersley
Pride has been restored for the blue half of East Anglia. A controversial late goal sealed a well-deserved 2-1 win for Ipswich to leave Norwich's play-off hopes looking rocky. There is no love lost between the two sets of fans and the Blues were desperate
A FAMILY were saved from their home after arsonists torched a car, caravan and van outside their house on a Basildon estate. The man, his wife and their son were helped out by firefighters after they were trapped inside by the burning vehicles. Flames
A FIRE ripped through the upstairs of an empty council house which was being used by squatters. Firefighters were called to the end-of-terrace property on the corner of London Road and Balmoral Road, Westcliff, at around 12.15am on Friday and found the
A man has been charged with attempted murder after the homes of two police officers were firebombed. Witness plea - PC Yari Forster and PC Natasha Keaney outside the house in Holland Road, Clacton. Picture: TERRY WEEDEN (47539-1) Police carried out a
A YOUNG boy saw his father killed when the car they were in had a head-on collision with a lorry. The dead man, aged 36, was from Southend but his identity has not yet been released. The accident happened on the B1010 Lower Burnham Road, Latchingdon.
Plans are afoot to turn the town centre blue and white to mark Colchester United's appearance in the later stages of the FA Cup. The U's - triumphant again at the weekend - will take on either Chelsea or Everton in the competition's fifth round on February
THERE will be no dream FA Trophy final between Essex rivals Grays and Dagenham & Redbridge after the Conference rivals were paired together in the quarter-finals. The Daggers will have to first overcome Tamworth in their fourth-round replay on Tuesday
Firefighters battled thick smoke as they tackled a fire at an industrial estate. The blaze broke out at the Morelands Industrial Estate in Old Barn Road, Rettendon, at 11am on Friday. South Woodham Fire Station sub officer Lee Atkinson said burning car
WEST Ham boss Alan Pardew watched new signing Dean Ashton make a scoring start to his Upton Park career - but insisted his new acquisition had to be judged over the long term. Ashton's 81st minute striker broke the resistance of a stubborn Sunderland
Ding! Next... Colchester United are brushing off opponents like its going out of fashion at the moment. The club notched up their record breaking ninth win a row by beating the Bradford City, the best successive victories tally the club has had since
HOLDERS Grays moved into the quarter-finals of the FA Trophy after a fine win at Conference rivals Hereford. Midfielder Michael Kightly slammed home the winner just short of the hour mark and it was no less than Blues deserved after a performance of character
Phil Parkinson was keeping his focus following his team's historic victory over Bradford City. I'll have that - Neil Danns challenges Bradford's Andy Cooke. (47626-3) The 3-1 triumph over the Bantams saw the U's set a new club record for nine successive
A MUM arrested in connection with the horror smash which killed four children was appearing in court today charged with two counts of theft. Davina Smith, 30, of Darwin Road, Tilbury, is accused of stealing the Ford Fiesta in which her two daughters,
A WOMAN was knocked unconscious and sexually assaulted as she carried shopping bags into her home. The victim, aged in her 20s, was also robbed during the attack in the Delaware Road area of Shoebury. Her attacker pounced as she entered her flat carrying
BASILDON Athletic Club's international hurdler Gianni Frankis has left Billericay Town with a seemingly insurmountable barrier to overcome in their bid to win a spot in the Ryman Premier League play offs. Teenager Frankis, who joined Swifts late last
Police stopped about 100 motorists in a clampdown on speeding. Targeting motorists - PC Cara McCullock. Picture: TERRY WEEDEN (46835-3) Harwich officers were specially assigned to Operation Harebell during December and January. They took out speed radar
Police stormed a suspected drugs den after a tip-off that youngsters were using it to get high. Going in - police burst into a flat in Colchester after allegations of drug-dealing. Picture: ADRIAN RUSHTON (47618-2) Officers raided the ground-floor flat
A football-mad mum is organising a celebrity football match for a hat-trick of charities. Charity goal - Marion Knight with her son, Mikey, 5, and Jack Beeson, 4. Picture: STEVE BRADING (47510-c) Marion Knight's five-year-old son, Mikey, was born with
Ipswich Town manager Joe Royle felt his side were worthy winners in the big derby clash after dominating for the majority of the game. However, the Town boss admitted to having his doubts whether his side would get the crucial breakthrough in the second-half
Police today appealed for witnesses after a knifeman robbed a gardener. The 19-year-old man was working on trees at the back of private housing in Wickham Road, Witham, just before 11am on Friday, when he felt something pressed into his back. He turned
There was plenty of "Gong Xi Fa Cai"-ing as hundreds of party-goers wished each other a happy Chinese New Year at the start of the year of the dog. Picture: TERRY WEEDEN (47538-4) More than 500 people partied at a special event staged by Colchester's
POLICE are growing increasingly concerned for a 73-year-old man with dementia who has gone missing from his care home in Southend. Anthony Bryne left the home in Whittingham Road on Thursday morning and didn't return. He is a slim, frail man and officers
