A caring Halstead firefighter turned into the Easter bunny by collecting more than 500 eggs for children in care.

For the second year running, Simon Phillips, 44, has collected Easter eggs from shops, businesses and residents in Halstead as well as in Colchester, Sudbury and Braintree to help put a chocolatey smile on a child’s face.

The dad-of-two, who is a retained firefighter at Halstead fire station and a full-time firefighter at Stansted Airport, collected the eggs as part of Premier Travel’s annual appeal for the charity Children in Care.

He first got involved after seeing a notice in the window of the Halstead branch, advertising its appeal.

He said: “I went in and they said they weren’t doing very well in the appeal so I kind of took the challenge on.

“Last year, I got about 170 eggs so I am hoping to get more and more each year. Next year, I am going to start collecting the eggs sooner “Hopefully it will give the children a bit of joy this Easter.”

See tomorrow's Halstead Gazette for the full story.