In today's Gazette: A man suffered head injuries after a plank of wood fell off a lorry and hit him.

The pedestrian was walking in the Hythe, Colchester, yesterday when he was struck. He was taken to Queen's Hospital in Romford with serious injuries.

* England and Essex cricket captain Alistair Cook wants to put his former team mate's name up in lights as patron of a charity.

Cook used top open the batting with David Randalls when he was coming through the ranks at Maldon cricket club. David died of bowel cancer last July, aged 27.

Cook will be patron of the David Randall Foundation which was officially launched at Essex County Cricket Club.

* Landlady Kirsty Carroll is devastated after fire tore through the kitchen of the Hlaf Butt Inn in Great Horkesley.

* The owner of a historic restaurant is owed £70,000 in rent, a court heard.

The tenant of the Old Siege House in Colchester, named in court as Mrs C Benabid, racked up the debts over the past year.

For more on these and other great stories, see today's Gazette. There is always more in the paper than there is online.