Proud parents in Essex are still able to take recordings of their children's school productions.

This is despite moves in other areas to ban camcorders and cameras from events.

Some schools have blocked parents from videoing or photographing school plays for fear the tapes or pictures could end up in the clutches of paedophiles.

Edinburgh City Council recently imposed a rule meaning any parent wanting to record or photograph a school production must get the permission from all the other parents.

But here in Essex, a spokesman for the county council said there had been no all-encompassing direction given out.

He said it was up to individual schools to make their own decisions.

And he added he was not aware of any schools which had decided to follow similar measures as in Edinburgh.

"It is part of childhood and parents like to preserve the innocence of these days and these precious memories" he said.

Colchester Council said it was not aware of any borough schools which had banned videos or photography.

Published Tuesday, December 17, 2002

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