FROM academic excellence, sporting prowess and celebrity appearances to amazing achievements, the Gazette reported life in Colchester and north Essex.

Today's 'Nostalgia' column looks back on the news reported a decade ago, in January 2014.

Athlete Millie Belbin, from Lawford, was setting her sights on competing for England at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and, if possible, the Paralympics.

Millie has cerebral palsy and was 13 at the time of the article in 2014.

She had been competing across the country, even being invited to top training sessions by the head of talent at British Athletics.

Moving into the world of academia, January 2014 also brought the news that a near-record number of pupils at Colchester Royal Grammar School had been offered places at either Oxford or Cambridge.

A total of 40 pupils celebrated their achievement, just one shy of the school’s record of 41, at least at the time.

Meanwhile, Frinton teen Jordan Rowe was in the midst of an unbeaten run, being crowned Southern Cross-Country Champion.

He had been given his closest run yet on the quagmire of Parliament Hill, London’s iconic cross-country course.

At the time a student at Tendring Technology College, Jordan said: “It worked out well because I wasn’t getting any of the splash back from the mud. But I was getting a bit nervous when I couldn’t shake the guy off.”

The Gazette also reported how Martin and Stacey Wheeler, the owners of Stanway barber shop Uppercut Barbers, in London Road, raised £1,610 for charity by taking part in St Helena Hospice’s 54-mile bike ride around Constable Country, as well as a further £840 from a Christmas raffle.

The business had been raided by thieves who made off with three charity boxes.

January 2014 also saw 93-year-old Billy Hawes reach new heights - literally.

Billy, of Gorse Lane, Tiptree, plunged 11,000ft from a plane to celebrate regaining his mobility and had relied on a wheelchair to get about.

He became the oldest person to do a tandem skydive in South Africa.

The month also saw Helen Chapman, of Saville Street, Walton, complete a ten-mile race on crutches to raise money for a new running blade.

Helen became an amputee in 1998, when she lost the lower part of her right leg after being involved in a car crash.

Actor Richard Wilson, known for One Foot In The Grave, was announced to be appearing at Frinton Summer Theatre while broadcaster Michael Portillo visited Tiptree.