Archive
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Frinton: busy first year at town's five-star WCs
MORE than a million pennies have been spent at a state-of-the-art toilet block in Frinton. The controversial £500,000 facility, which opened a year ago, has been used by 77,500 people. The Edwardian-looking block, on the Greensward at the bottom of
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Harwich: woman was in work while claiming credits
A 25-YEAR-old woman was ordered to undertake unpaid work after admitting four counts of benefit fraud. Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard Danielle Edgar received £1,904 in housing and council tax benefits which she was not entitled to. Three of the
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North Essex: council tax payers face above-inflation rises
TAXPAYERS in Tendring face an above-inflation council tax increase. Town hall finance bosses have proposed a four per cent rise. Tendring Council’s portion of the bill for band D properties will go up £5.76 in total to approximately £150 a year – an
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Harwich: excuse me, if you've seen my head, can I have it back?
THE owner of an unusual statue which was taken from a back garden is now desperate to see it returned. James Reymond, of Langley Close, Dovercourt, said he was devastated to discover a 30kg Easter Island head he had affectionately named Boris had been
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North Essex: hundreds more people claim jobseekers' allowance
HUNDREDS more residents in north Essex are claiming jobseekers’ allowance as claimants nationwide top one million. The number of people in the east of England claiming the benefit has risen to 75,252 in November, up by more than 10,000 from 64,000 three
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North Essex: car crash debris closes lane of A12
DEBRIS from a two-car collision caused emergency services to briefly close one carriageway of the A12. Traffic stretched back to Marks Tey following the crash on the northbound carriageway involving a blue Citroen C3 and a silver Lexus RX400, between
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Harwich: woman is fined for £3,000 benefit fraud
A WOMAN has been fined after she and her partner defrauded Tendring Council out of more than £3,000. Stephanie Smith failed to tell the council that she and partner Simon Ward were receiving tax credits from the Department of Work and Pensions. Between
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North Essex: goodbye Miss, we'll miss you
A SCHOOL teacher who is set to jet off to the other side of the world in the new year will be “sorely missed” by her pupils. Carolyn Edwards has taught year five and year six pupils at Wix and Wrabness Primary School for nearly four years, but will be
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North Essex: veteran councillor Roy Smith quits party
THE chairman of Tendring Council has quit his political party. Roy Smith and his Golf Green ward colleague Kevin Watson say an ongoing difference of opinion with Community Representatives Party leader Steven Henderson has prompted the split. Mr Henderson
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Clacton: drunken husband moved car he was living in
A SITE foreman who was living in his car after the breakdown of his marriage drove the vehicle while almost four times the legal limit. Timothy Salt’s estranged wife noticed the car, which he was living in after leaving the marital home in Warwick Road
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Pensioners enjoy Joy's free Christmas lunch
IT is said there is no such thing as a free lunch. But those who say it have not met Joy Watson, landlady of the Ship Inn, in Valley Road, Great Clacton, who offered a free three-course Christmas dinner to lonely older people in the district. A total
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Halstead: policemen praised for wrestling knife from attacker
QUICK-acting police officers who wrestled a knife off a strong, mentally ill attacker are to be commended for their bravery. PC Julie Willis was pinned up against park railings by Aykut Sokmen after she challenged him, while he was attacking another
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Colchester: hospital visit makes sick children's match of the day
REFEREES are not always a welcome sight, but they were when they arrived at Colchester General Hospital. The group from the Colchester Referees’ Society made their annual visit to the children’s ward to deliver Christmas presents. They spent about 30
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Wivenhoe: get giggling early for Christmas with a ripsnorter of a comedy line-up
CHRISTMAS is a good time for a good laugh, so get your giggles in early with the last Funny Farm of the year. Wivenhoe’s Festive Funny Farm takes place tonight with another rip-snorter of a line-up headlined by Paul Foot, who has been described as the
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Colchester: Ken's church friends treat him to tour of new football ground
A PENSIONER who has supported Colchester United for 60 years was taken for a trip to the new stadium by members of his church as a thank you. Ken Eley, 81, recently retired as secretary of Old Heath Congregational Church, in Fingringhoe Road, Colchester
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Clacton: all this noise is enough to wake Sleeping Beauty
LOVE will bring Sleeping Beauty back to life at Clacton’s Princes Theatre. The traditional family pantomime is being staged by the Princes Theatre Youth Company and curtain-up on the song and dance action takes place on December 27 for a four-night run
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Essex: council is rapped over child protection; placed in same bracket as Haringey
YOUNGSTERS in Essex are not getting the protection they need from the county council, a critical report has revealed. The authority’s children’s services attempts to keep children and young people safe have been labelled inadequate by Ofsted inspectors
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North Essex: council contract worker admits benefit fraud
A MAN who is a contractor for Colchester Council and who admitted benefit fraud was given 80 hours of unpaid work. Colchester Magistrates’ Court heard how Kenneth Priestley defrauded Tendring Council of more than £1,156 in housing benefit between May
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Halstead: postwoman stole £10,000 to pay her bills
A SUB-postmistress who ran a village post office stole more than £10,000 to supplement her income, a court heard. When Royal Mail staff went to Toppesfield Post Office, near Halstead, to carry out an audit in August postmistress Jane Jervis told them
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Colchester: champ dives in to launch swim school
A FORMER swimming world champion dived into Eight Ash Green to launch a new swim school. Karen Pickering visited the Spirit Health Club at Holiday Inn, Abbotts Lane, to launch her club aimed at getting youngsters and the 20 per cent of adults who cannot
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North Essex: celebrity Joe is the star at nightclub
JUNGLE fever came to north Essex when celebrity Joe Swash visited a nightclub. The winner of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here greeted clubbers at Escape Nightclub in Copford. It was the 26-year-old’s first public appearance since leaving
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Colchester: pay to park your car, and we'll keep any change, too
TICKET machines in Colchester’s car parks earn the borough council thousands of pounds extra every year – because they do not give change. It is estimated that motorists who did not have the right change last year paid about £3,000 too much for their
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Steven delighted to be back in action
Great to be back. Record-signing Steven Gillespie cannot wait to get stuck into Scunthorpe on Saturday after making his latest comeback against Luton Town in Colchester United’s ill-fated Johnstone’s Paint Trophy area semi-final. And if the pacey Liverpool-born
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Colchester: MP Bob pays end-of-mission tribute
AN announcement that UK troops are to be withdrawn from Iraq by July has been welcomed by Colchester’s MP. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said yesterday he had agreed with Iraqi prime minister Nouri Malaki that Britain’s mission in the gulf state
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Youth football results round-up
COLCHESTER AND DISTRICT YOUTH LEAGUE UNDER-NINE League Cup - round three: Frinton & Walton Blues 2 (A Spiro, J Lake) Gt Bentley Blues 1 (H Beeney). Andrews Blues League: Cornard Dynamos Blues 0 Stanway Rovers Blues 4 (R Taylor 2, J Barlow, T Dickson
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Sprint king Youseffi in record-breaking form
Colchester Swimming Club held their annual 50m Sprint Championships for the senior, county and masters squads, with ten club records broken by different members. Sargon Youssefi was on fine form and broke three records, including the 50 metre freestyle
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Warburton and Demuth win competition at trot
Colchester Golf Club’s Turkey Trot is always a lottery as far as the weather is concerned but the forecasters served up their worst for this year. With two shotgun starts, morning and afternoon it was the morning round which produced the best score in
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Impressive return for McEwan
Andrew McEwan made an impressive return to the Colchester and District Table Tennis League, winning his three in Rayne’s 6-4 win over Walton A in division one. Martin Hogg won two for the seaside team, losing in three straight sets to McEwan, who struggled
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North Essex: Gas cylinder catches fire in home
PEOPLE who are hard-up have been warned not to take risks if they try to heat their homes on the cheap. The alert follows an incident in which firefighters found that a pensioner had unwittingly created a “homemade bomb” with a propane gas cylinder.
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Colchester: Hunt is on for samurai sword after youth is injured in disturbance
A teenager is seriously ill in hospital after an incident on a Colchester estate in-volving a samurai sword. Colchester police have issued an appeal for witnesses and are looking for weapons. A large group of youths is believed to have
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North Essex: opening up entire coastline moves a step nearer
GROUNDBREAKING legislation to open the entire coastline of England and Wales to the public has moved a step closer. The Marine and Coastal Access Bill has had its second reading at Parliament. The House of Lords welcomed the bill but highlighted areas
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North Essex: campaigners' delight as village surgery is saved
CAMPAIGNERS are delighted with the news that a north Essex branch surgery has been saved. The Pump House surgery, in Earls Colne, runs a weekly branch surgery in the village hall in Great Tey. Doctors at the surgery have dispensing powers, which means
