TICKETS to this year’s Essex Book Festival are now on sale, and this year former Government spin doctor, Alastair Campbell, will take part. To see him and the other big names appearing, act fast, as tickets are sure to be snapped up quickly. Whether
A NURSING organisation has urged health bosses in north Essex to extend a consultation over changes which could see district nurse positions cut from nine to five. The Royal College of Nursing says NHS North East Essex’s plans would reduce the number
COLCHESTER-based singer-songwriter Jazmine Ava is really riding the crest of a creative wave at the moment with the release of her new album. The darling of the local music scene, Jazmine, along with her band, launched her second album, Set Me On Fire
TWO very different musical genres will be on show at the Odeon cinema in Colchester next week. On Monday, the Head Street venue continues its programme of cultural events, with a screening of one of Verdi’s greatest works. Don Carlo
FANCY playing a venue that has hosted the likes of Coldplay, the Strokes and the Killers? Well that’s the chance on offer for readers of Soundcheck who just happen to be in a local band. On February 18, Colchester’s one to watch for 2010, Angry Vs the
THE Gazette has helped secure a major victory just three days after joining the campaign to save Colchester’s Roman circus. Developer Taylor Wimpey has agreed a month’s extension to the deadline to find £750,000 to create a heritage centre
FANS who helped Colchester United defeat the winter weather have been rewarded. Supporters volunteered to clear snow from the Weston Homes Community Stadium pitch earlier this week to ensure Saturday’s match can go ahead. The faithful did the same
NORWICH City fans found sitting among Colchester United supporters at Saturday’s match will be thrown out, U’s bosses have warned. Tense relations between the two clubs since the Canaries lured away former U’s manager Paul Lambert have deepened after
A TOP councillor who crashed into a parked car has admitted drink-driving. Steven Henderson, 55, leader of the Community Representatives party in Harwich, and Tendring councillor responsible for housing, admitted one charge of driving while under the
INDEPENDENT shops all over Colchester are backing the bid to save the circus by displaying the Gazette’s poster. Campaigners stuck up the sign – printed in yesterday’s paper – in the window of greengrocer John Whitnell’s store in Crouch Street
SCIENCE fact and science fiction could soon merge in the world of fake blood. Essex University experts have moved a step closer to creating claret to use in operations. Scientists at the Wivenhoe-based university have employed similar technology used
The leader of Essex County Council failed to register his links with the trust that runs four academies in Essex, the Standards Board for England has ruled. Lord Hanningfield was patron and director of the Academies Enterprise Trust until he resigned
COLCHESTER’S most famous exports wowed the crowds for the world premiere of their film. Blur quartet Damon Albarn, Graham Coxon, Alex James and Dave Rowntree were at the Odeon cinema in the West End, London, last night for the first screening of No Distance
A TAXI driver was fined £95 for supposedly staying in a car park for 15 hours and 32 minutes, despite only being there for less than half an hour. Keith Harvey has blamed the surveillance system at Homebase, in St Andrew’s Avenue, Colchester, for the
THE Gazette has helped secure a major victory just three days after joining the campaign to save Colchester’s Roman circus. Developer Taylor Wimpey has agreed a month’s extension to the deadline to find £750,000 to create a heritage centre
A RECLUSE who became addicted to internet pornography – including images of children as young as five – has been spared jail. Russell Johnson was caught when he used a credit card to pay $70 for child porn from a website police knew about, Chelmsford
A GRAND hall frequented by the great and the good of Colchester is to be restored to its former glory. Colchester Council has agreed to renovate and repair the Moot Hall in Colchester’s Town Hall. The Moot Hall has been the venue for major events, including
I am writing to express my praise and thanks for the incredible and professional work done by all of Colchester Council's staff who were working outdoors over the past week despite the severe weather. Special mention should go to the recycling
Residents of Harrington Close, Tiptree, are upset over proposals to build housing and a training ground for Colchester United overlooking their own houses. These are the same houses that not so long ago were built on the muddy lane that was
The media has provided a platform for an unrelenting litany of complaints from members of the public expressing a range of opinions about school closures in the face of adverse weather. Concerns about pupil and staff safety and the decision
I was almost apoplectic when I read Colchester Council had actually created, and filled, a post of “Health Walk Activator” (Gazette, health section). What immediately came to my mind was the oftrepeated phrase by that inimical sceptic, Victor
A WOMAN has appealed to Gazette readers to help find her lost dog. Farmer Tracy St Clair Pearce has lost her Lancashire Heeler, a small black and tan dog, with a collar and tag. It is also microchipped and tattooed and is on heart medication. Miss
Paul Lambert has insisted that he is "not concerned" about the reception he might receive when he returns to Colchester United tomorrow. The former U's boss goes back to his former club this weekend for the first time since controversially
The weather has put paid to more football fixtures this weekend. In the Ridgeons League premier division a number of games have failed to beat the wet conditions ahead of Saturday's matches. Harwich and Parkeston’s match against CRC
ESSEX Councils will launch a blitz of repairs on potholes caused by the freezing weather as soon as the snow melts. The snow has caused a large increase in potholes across the county, because of water seeping into existing cracks and expanding when it
COMMUTERS are boycotting Manningtree station because parking charges have gone up. Some people who work in Colchester, Chelmsford and even London are abandoning the trains in favour of their cars because they say it is cheaper to drive. Parking firm
A QUICK-THINKING motorist has been hailed a hero for dragging a pensioner from his blazing home. Firefighters say the 84-year-old victim would almost certainly have died if eagle-eyed passer-by Duncan Robinson had not spotted the fire while driving home
A TEENAGER has been convicted of swearing at a dad and calling him a paedophile as he walked through Brightlingsea with his three children. The 16-year-old, who cannot be named for legal reasons, shouted abuse at the passer-by, Harwich Magistrates’ Court
AIDY Boothroyd feels Colchester United’s mouth-watering East Anglian derby could be a “defining moment” in the club’s season. And the U’s boss believes his players will have a point to prove against promotion rivals Norwich City tomorrow
DUMPED shopping trolleys are blighting a Colchester neighbourhood. People say the number of trolleys wheeled away from the Tesco High Woods store and abandoned nearby has increased during the snowy weather. In just one hour, the Gazette
AN AMBITIOUS project to reveal the history of timber-framed buildings in a market town has been awarded more funding. Coggeshall Heritage Society has received an £8,000 grant from the Essex Heritage Trust, which means it is now only £4,000 away from
A SAILING enthusiast who worked all his life in the yachting industry has drawn on his experience to compile a record of East Anglian boatyards. Mike Davies, from Wivenhoe, who has sold yachts since the Sixties, has noticed a gradual decline
WORK on a long-awaited research park at Essex University is to finally begin in months, creating thousands of jobs. The much-anticipated centre suffered a major setback in 2008, when an unnamed developer pulled out of a deal to buy land near the Colchester
A BISHOP performed a blessing with a difference when he visited the home of the Essex Air Ambulance. The Rt Rev Dr Laurie Green, Chelmsford’s acting bishop, conducted the service at Boreham Airbase where the helicopter team is based. He prayed for the
