SOROPTIMISTS are the world’s best-kept secret, according to Margaret Sandercock of the Southend group. Despite helping women and girls the world over since starting up in 1921 in America, the group is relatively unknown. The organisation was
PUPILS had a taste of the Olympics when they tried white water rafting at Lee Valley White Water Centre. The students from Basildon Upper Academy represented the town a schools festival with hundreds of teenagers from across London, Essex and Hertfordshire
YOUNG athletes at a Canvey school were celebrating after coming out on top at a boroughwide swimming competition. Students from 15 schools across Castle Point went head to head in an annual swimming gala at Runnymede Swimming Pool in Kiln Road,
A RECRUITMENT drive is being launched to find 200 extra nurses for Basildon Hospital. Bosses are hoping to attract the new staff by November to help them cope with the huge demand at the hospital’s A&E department The nurses will fill general
A SAINSBURY’S store in Rayleigh Weir recently donated nearly £6,000 to Havens Hospices thanks to the support of its customers in the local community. In June last year, the store announced that Havens Hospices would be their Local Charity partner
IMPROVEMENTS are being made to bus services across south Essex following a commuter survey. First Bus has announced a series of changes to its services across the county, which will come into force on September 1. The changes have been introduced
MOTORISTS are facing rush hour delays on the A127 following a three-vehicle crash. One lane of the London-bound carriageway is blocked following the accident between Billericay and the Fortune of War shortly after 5.30pm.
A BRAVE shopkeeper and up to 50 residents chased two gang members after they threatened shop staff with an axe. The thugs walked into the King Edward Store on King Edward Mead, Laindon, with a dog and started causing trouble. They were asked
ALMOST £50,000 has been written off by Basildon Council in outstanding council tax in May. A total debt of £49,287 was written off that month because of people who had been declared bankrupt, had gone into an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, or
A TEENAGE Cinderella was left in tears when she was barred from her school prom because she hadn’t achieved enough good behaviour points. Security escorted Megan-Rose Thompson, 16, and her mum Sylvia, 36, from Stock Brook Manor, Billericay, amid
CONCORD could have a new centre forward on show as they kick-off their pre-season games at home to a Stevenage Borough XI tonight. Beachboys boss Danny Cowley is keen to add more firepower to his Conference South new-boys, and says he hopes he
POLICE have released CCTV images of a man who allegedly stole plants from a front garden. A yellow flatbed truck pulled up outside a house on Ness Road, Shoebury, at about 9.40pm on Friday, June 28. A man got out and pulled two ornamental plants
JOE Hart has spoken of his joy at captaining Great Britain’s under 20 basketball team to three successive victories at the start of the European Championships in Romania. The GB youngsters have beaten Slovak Republic, Luxembourg and hosts Romania
RAYLEIGH goalkeeper Dean Gerken is setting his sights on first-team football after joining Ipswich Town. The 28-year-old former FitzWimarc School pupil has penned a two-year deal at Portman Road after being released by Bristol City at the end of
SOUTHEND United are considering reporting Chesterfield to the Football League for the way they have handled their pursuit of Ryan Cresswell, the Echo understands. Blues have rejected an offer of £25,000 from the Spireites for the centre-back, who
CONCERNS have been raised about the number of homeless people in Castle Point after new figures revealed a 47 per cent increase in four years. Castle Point Council is now developing a five-year action plan to combat the problem after the number
BEN Coker is determined to make the most of his return to the Football League after sealing a permanent switch to Southend United. The 24-year-old has been signed by Blues boss Phil Brown after impressing during a pre-season trial. And, having
THOUSANDS of cyclists will descend on Southend on Sunday. The British Heart Foundation’s London to Southend bike ride ends at Priory Park, in Victoria Avenue. Up to 4,000 riders are expected to take part in the 52- mile route, starting in Victoria
TWO south Essex men, who were at the centre of a drugs gang which aimed to flood the streets of Essex with cocaine, have been jailed. Luke Shubert, 31, of Glenwood, Vange, was the kingpin of the gang, while Richard Gamon, 30, of Link Road, was
A LEIGH primary school and children’s centre has kept its good Ofsted rating after an inspection. Blenheim Primary School and Children’s Centre, in School Way, was inspected in June. The report published this week praises the school on a range
THOUSANDS more patients may have died at 14 hospital trusts than would normally be expected, a report by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh has found, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt told MPs. Eleven of the hospitals, includiong Basildon, looked at by Sir
CELEBRITIES will be graduating from Essex University to an audience across the world. The university will be streaming this month’s ceremonies from its website. It will mean friends and family of its 2,745 students who are graduating will be
SOUTHEND Council is expected to approve plans for a new drug recovery service in the former County Chambers, in Clarence Street, Southend, on Wednesday. South Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust has already transferred its community
A YOUNG cerebral palsy sufferer has been given a new lease of life after his primary school classmates raised hundreds of pounds for a special trike. Richard Traveller, six, of Denham Road, Canvey, can now be like his friends and cycle to school
THIEVES struck at the Village Green Festival, stealing items including a custom guitar belonging to headline act Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly. After Saturday’s festival show, Sam Duckworth, who used to perform under the stage name Get Cape, Wear Cape
A FRAUDULENT accountant who fleeced a woman out of £345,000 has been ordered to pay her back just £1,200. Leslie Lesser, 78, from High Road, Great Wakering, got Maggie Tuttle, 70, to hand over her life savings in instalments on the promise of 12
A LANDMARK seafront sun shelter could be converted into a cafe or restaurant. Dedman Gray and Sorrell Property have been instructed by Southend Council to find a tenant to turn the Leas sun shelter in Western Esplanade into a restaurant or even
THE Duke of Kent will today rename the new £3million cultural centre at the end of Southend Pier. The Queen’s cousin will carry out the formal ceremony after opening the new lifeboat station in Western Esplanade, Southend. Southend Council
IMAGINE being told that you might never see again. That was the reality Johanne Turner, 37, from Southend, was faced with after she emerged from an operation to remove a tumour from her brain. Johanne’s legal career was halted when she was diagnosed
A SOUTH Essex company which makes hand-crafted pub chalkboards is enjoying the limelight – in Simon Pegg and Nick Frost’s new movie, the World’s End. The film is based around a group of friends who reunite after 20 years for a pub crawl. Director
A COUPLE from Leigh have spoken of their terror when a fire broke out at their five star hotel in Turkey. Stephanie and Derek Barnes, both 60, were staying at the luxury Baia Lara Hotel in Antalya, last week, having booked their trip with Thomas
A COLLAPSED sewer brought road chaos to Benfleet, leaving motorists stuck in long queues. Three-way traffic signals have been put up at the roundabout where Essex Way, the High Street and the High Road meet, while engineers from Anglian Water carry
THOUSANDS of people took to the streets for the return of the Canvey Carnival. Forathird year in a row, islanders were gripped by party fever as colourful floats snaked their way through the town before finishing with a fun fair at Labworth Park
A MAN has been arrested on suspicion of the theft of jewellery from a car in Westcliff. The 33-year-old man from Shoebury is being questioned on suspicion of stealing the goods from a BMW. The car was parked in Hamlet Court Road overnight on
HOW can a school go from good to failing in just over a year? That was the question posed by shocked parents when Leigh North Street Junior School, in Leigh, was put into special measures by Ofsted amid concerns over standards. The last report
EMERGENCY hit squads will be drafted in to shake up failing hospitals, which could also be placed in “special measures”. The teams are expected to go in with action plans tailored to each hospital in the wake of a report out today. The document
THE former boss of scandal-hit Basildon Hospital was given a £72,000 payoff, the Echo can reveal today. Alan Whittle, 57, ran the trust as chief executive through some of its worst moments and resisted repeated calls to resign. When he finally
A WOMAN watched in horror as a drink-driver smashed into her car and then went into a pub nearby for another drink. But Nicola McCormack was even more livid when police failed to respond to the incident, despite launching a campaign urging the
A QUICK-THINKING railway guard’s time in his old job on a hospital cardio ward came in handy when a commuter had a heart attack on the platform. Jack Miller, of Oban Road, Southend, won the admiration of his wife and workmates, after rushing to
SOUTHEND United were left ruing a number of missed chances after being held to a 1-1 draw at Chelmsford City on Monday night. Blues went ahead after just two minutes at Melbourne Park with Anthony Straker firing home a fantastic left footed shot
