Archive

  • Koopa on the DIY route to success in music

    KOOPA have rebelled against the traditional set-up, rejecting generous record deals to stamp their own mark on music history. In 2007, they became the first unsigned band to make it into the top 40. Without any record label, they sold about 7,000 copies

  • Thurstable School catchment area kids to get free bus pass

    CHILDREN caught in a wrangle over catchment areas, following the collapse of the schools reorganisation in Colchester, will be given free bus passes. Year 6 pupils at Mersea Island Primary School will not have to pay to be taken to Thurstable School,

  • Staff to lose jobs when NHS North East is abolished

    DOZENS of jobs are to be axed as plans for GPs to manage NHS budgets move a step closer to reality. NHS North East Essex’s primary care trust has set up a new committee to prepare doctors to take over the reins when the trust is abolished. Some of the

  • Recognition from across the pond for Angry Vs the Bear

    AS heard on television. That’s the music of Colchester synth pop band Angry Vs the Bear. The four-piece band from Colchester, made up of Mitzi Fox, Patrick Monahan, Darren Parker and Ross Farley, stormed last year’s South By Southwest music conference

  • I never promised a magic wand, dentist tells hearing

    A DENTIST accused of misconduct over his treatment of three patients has said he never promised to cure them. Francois Jacobus Rossouw, 54, said patients could back out and he was careful to ensure they did not expect a “magic wand” to solve their problems

  • Schools ‘hoard’ £46m of unspent funding

    SCHOOLS in Essex are sitting on more than £46million of unspent funds, it has been revealed. Essex County Council is urging schools to spend the cash or face having it taken away. However, headteachers and MPs want County Hall to allow schools to keep

  • We’ll miss daughter Jo’s infectious giggle

    THESE smiling photos show a side to Joanne Lee that has rarely been mentioned in the coverage surrounding the 34-year-old’s death. Joanne, of White Court, Great Notley, was found dead in a suspected suicide pact formed on the internet. Her struggle

  • Who shot our cat?

    A CAT had to be put down after it was shot in the head with an air rifle. Four-year-old Megan Dawes’s pet, Charlotte, was shot near her home in John English Avenue, Braintree. A vet at the Black Notley Veterinary Surgery put the 18-month-old cat to

  • NHS shake-up threat to two new GP clinics

    PLANS for two long-awaited health centres could be stopped in their tracks by Government proposals to revamp the NHS. Wivenhoe patients have been waiting for more than ten years for a new GP clinic. Now town councillors are worried an NHS shake-up

  • I decided to act after sis was diagnosed with MS

    A BUSINESSMAN has given something back to a Stanway charity that helped his family. Luke Chapman, managing director of business support company the BP Group, has agreed to provide the Multiple Sclerosis Resource Centre with high-tech running vests for

  • Lottery ‘win’ for six north Essex volunteer bodies

    VOLUNTEERS who keep Colchester’s beauty spots in shape have been awarded £6,443 to support their work. Colchester Countryside Volunteer Rangers, based at High Woods Country Park, is one of six groups in Colchester and Tendring to benefit from a £213,118

  • Climb flies the flag for heroes

    A FORMER serviceman is climbing the tallest mountain in Africa with a flag from his sons’ school. Martin Dunn, governor of Chappel Primary School, started scaling Mount Kilimanjaro with two pals yesterday. The father-of-four boys, of Wakes Colne, used

  • Mixed feelings for U's boss Ward

    Colchester United manager John Ward admitted he had mixed feelings over his side's derby draw with Dagenham and Redbridge. The U's played out a 2-2 with the Daggers to extend their unbeaten run in npower League One to nine matches. Ward said: “It was

  • Space should be open

    If anyone walks up Edenside, in Kirby Cross, can you tell me the point of wasting council taxpayers’ money planting trees on what was an open space for young people to kick a football? This was done some time ago and now looks an awful mess,

  • Thanks for help after my fall

    I would like to say a very big thank-you to the young women and the elderly couple who came to my aid when I tripped over a pavement slab, in Lexden Road, Colchester, on Thursday, September 24. I was in such pain at the time I didn’t think to

  • Champion of champions?

    One of my favourite sports of late has been to scour the pages of the Gazette for articles containing the word “champion” and Kevin Bentley. The man is seemingly multi-talented and he is certainly perceived to be champion of this and champion

  • Queens Road should be open

    How sensible of Colchester Council’s planning committee to urge the closure of Queens Road, in Wivenhoe, be reconsidered. Worries over the increased volume of traffic, which will result from further development of Cook’s Shipyard led the planning

  • Fight betrayal of town over museum closure

    As a Colchestrian by birth, I am both dismayed at, and disillusioned by, the Liberal Democrats’ decision to close Tymperleys Clock Museum at the end of October. Speaking to my cousin, I learned his father, Sidney (Sid) Potter, had been the

  • MP calls for answers over jams at crossing

    AN MP is calling for answers over traffic hold-ups at a level crossing. Traders, including newsagent Chitranjan Patel, are convinced train barriers are being kept down for longer at the Eastgates crossing, in Colchester, since the signal box

  • Putting the past back together for future generations

    AMATEUR genealogists tracing their ancestors back to Colchester will benefit from a man’s labour of love. Museum assistant Wayne Dutnall has located, documented and mapped about 80 per cent of the gravestones and plaques in and around the former All

  • Witham hit Eton Manor for six

    WITHAM TOWN went goal crazy in their Essex Senior League Cup Group A match against Eton Manor at Spa Road. They won 6-1, with in-form Scott Lodge scoring twice to take his personal tally in his last three games to six goals. Witham were much the better