A little touch of the Caribbean has been brought to Canvey's seafront with the arrival of six tropical palm trees.

The trees were planted on Eastern Esplanade as part of the Canvey 2000 initiative, to restore the seafront in time for the millennium.

Euro MP, Richard Howitt and Castle Point's Labour MP, Christine Butler, were on hand with members of the group to put the trees in opposite the Monico pub.

Chairman of the scheme, councillor Dennis Williams, said: "They look absolutely gorgeous.

"The amount of people that stopped to talk to us while we were putting them in was amazing. They were all saying how wonderful they looked.

"It brought a lump to my throat which to me sums up exactly why we are doing it."

The 7ft trees, cost £150 each and were brought over from Italy to help brighten up the seafront area.

He added: "If we have enough money we may think about getting another six trees so we have them all along the seafront."

Treemendo! - Dennis Williams loves the trees

Picture: NICK ANSELL

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.