IT is widely accepted new mums take some time off work to look after their newborns. But what about dads? Currently entitled to two weeks of paternity leave, a new study has revealed many dads are not taking up this offer for fear of damaging their careers
GUITARIST Thomas Leeb and jazz sextet In Cahoots will perform at Swinburne Hall next week. Austrian-born Leeb will bring his unique style of guitar, punctuated by slaps, pops and beats, to the venue at Colchester Institute on November 9. Leeb, who was
MR Charisma, Olly Murs, has the backing of his old school. The whole of Witham is behind the town’s X Factor star, who gave yet another confident performance at the weekend. As odds on the 25-year-old being crowned the eventual winner of the show
A FUNERAL service will be held on Friday for a former soldier and family man. Great grandfather Albie Smith, 89, who had been treasurer and president of the Halstead and Hedingham Fishing Club, died last Tuesday. Mr Smith was born and brought up in
l THE Swan, in Rayne, holds its display and funfair tonight from 6pm, with fireworks starting at 8pm. Admission is £4 for adults and £3 for children. l THE King Coel’s Kittens group holds its annual display in Castle Park, Colchester, from 6pm until
POLICE are renewing their search for the killer of 39-year-old wife and mother, Josephine Backshall, who was murdered 35 years ago. The Brownie pack leader and church choir member from Norfolk Close, Maldon, was last seen alive by her family, at about
A PROTEST outside a school over pupils’ punishment has been called off amid claims it “got out of hand”. Dozens of parents and children planned to picket Coppins Green school, in Clacton, on Monday morning over controversial techniques to improve discipline
A HOSPITAL chief has pledged patient care will not suffer amid “political uncertainty” about funding. The NHS has been told to prepare for £20billion cuts over the next five years, which could leave Colchester General Hospital facing a £40m
A POPULAR Tudor gatehouse has been named the best small tourist attraction in the East of England. Layer Marney Tower won the accolade at the East of England Tourism Awards after winning the same category in September’s Essex Tourism Awards. The tower
A FORMER sub-postmaster who swindled thousands of pounds from the Post Office has been barred for a month from all the pubs in his village. A judge told Ian Warren he wouldn’t jail him because he wasn’t a burglar or a violent criminal. Instead, he said
UNICYCLING, juggling and tightrope walking kept children busy at a circus skills fun day. Nearly 20 youngsters, aged seven and older, joined the workshop with three members of Bee-Line, who were all dressed as clowns. Boys and girls
THE £130million reorganisation of Colchester’s secondary schools will not go ahead unless an access road is built, Lord Hanningfield has confirmed. Last month, Colchester Council’s coalition cabinet agreed to allow a strip of land off Norman Way to be
Aidy Boothroyd has challenged his U’s side to embark on another long unbeaten run. And this time he wants Colchester United to turn the number of matches they go undefeated into double figures. The U’s relinquished their proud nine-game unbeaten run
AN estate in Clacton has been cleaned up as part of an initiative aimed at tackling antisocial behaviour. The Percy King Estate has been spruced up as part of Tendring Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership’s Not in My Neighbourhood Week. The six-hour
RESIDENTS are preparing for a battle over a development of 30 affordable homes. Iceni Homes wants to build the houses in Everest Way, Heybridge. Protesters say the land is outside the development boundary and will result in the loss of significant
A FIRE sparked by an electrical fault wrecked a workshop. Fire crews from Hedingham, Halstead and Wethersfield were sent to tackle the blaze at Westmead industrial estate, known as Cut Maple, near Gosfield, on Sunday just before 11.20am. They had extinguished
COUNCIL officers are working to make a road safer after a teenager was seriously hurt when a car crashed into a garage. An 18-year-old Tiptree woman was one of four people trapped when a Ford Fiesta car left Kelvedon Road in Coggeshall Hamlet
THE parents of a Witham man sexually abused by a family friend, wept in court as he was sentenced to 12 months in prison. Paul Higgins, who lives in Kent, had previously pleaded guilty to one charge of indecently assaulting Jonathan Cornell when he was
CHILDREN celebrated carnival as part of Black History Month. They made masks, explored the library as part of a treasure hunt, designed a float and played steel drums at Braintree library in Fairfield Road, Braintree. Jane Procter, senior customer service
A BOY born under water is now a fully qualified scuba diver at the age of ten. Ben Goodyear passed the academic part of his Padi Junior Open Water Diver qualification, the day after his tenth birthday. His parents believe it makes him the youngest person
THE sights and sounds of African-Caribbean life came to Colchester as a new community group staged a family fun day. Colourful fashions, pumping music and exotic foods at the Drury Arms, in Layer Road, gave a flavour of the town’s growing African-Caribbean
Once again, Colchester’s Olympian has been dealt a funding bodyblow by those worthies in charge of British athletics. Why is it that Sarah Claxton is almost constantly overlooked by athletics chiefs when they dole out cash? If memory serves
It would be appropriate to consider once again why we need to change our clocks at this time of year. I believe it to be detrimental to the community for the following reasons: ● The change in time puts us out of line with other countries in
> Many of us will have been affected by news of the increasing casualties and loss of life among British troops serving in Afghanistan this year. As Remembrance Sunday approaches, it is time to remember not only those who fought so bravely
THINGS have certainly changed since Doug Humphrey took over his father’s business as a coal merchant in Colchester. When his father died suddenly in 1953, the coal was still transported using the firm’s four horses and almost everyone living in the surrounding
CIRCUS bosses have welcomed new rules aimed at stopping animals from performing in Tendring. Lawrie Payne, an animal rights campaigner and councillor, put forward a motion calling on Tendring Council to do what it could to ban all circuses
A DECISION on the sale of land for a new surgery in Holland-on-Sea has been overturned. NHS North East Essex wants to build a surgery in Brighton Road to replace the outdated Frinton Road surgery. Tendring Council’s cabinet said it would not sell the
LAPDANCING could be on the way back in Colchester. Plans have been revealed to convert a disco into a late-night “gentlemen’s club”, featuring naked and topless dancers. A company has applied to Colchester Council for a licence to allow
A CHARITY worker has been rewarded for her efforts over the past two decades. Monica Matthews, a volunteer at the Barnardo’s shop, in Rosemary Road, Clacton, was highly commended in the prestigious Marsh Trust awards. Monica has been
A NIGHT of salsa dancing has raised £1,738 for a Colchester hospice. The event, at the Assembly Rooms, in Dedham, was organised on behalf of the Sally Noyes Fund, in aid of St Helena Hospice. About 100 people enjoyed an hour of salsa
