A STUDENT has formed his own record label to make an album featuring the music of the best unsigned bands in Essex. Rob Scannell, 17, set up Steel Sky Records in August after coming up with the idea through his work with Open Minded Music (OMM), a non-profit
A NEIGHBOURHOOD Action Panel is meeting in Witham on Saturday, September 22. The Witham South panel aims to tackle problems affecting the community and is open to anyone who lives or works in the catchment area. The meeting will be held at the town
A VILLAGE is seeking to stamp out public consumption of alcohol at two of its recreation areas. Residents in Great Notley are working with police to secure a Drinking Places Order at the recreation area for teenagers, called The RAFT, and children's
AN action group is to be formed to tackle the problem of heavy lorries regularly travelling through a village. It comes after more than 40 residents in Hatfield Peverel attended a public meeting last Tuesday to discuss their concerns about lorries travelling
A MUM who trained for the London Marathon by pushing a double buggy has given her sponsorship money to a hospital's baby unit. Karen Hopegood, of Rickstones Road in Rivenhall, gave £316 to the special care baby unit (SCBU) at Colchester General Hospital
Businesses tee-ed off for charity this week, raising £15,000. A total of 34 teams from companies around Halstead and Braintree took part in the fundraiser for Farleigh hospice at Colne Valley golf club in Earls Colne. The fourth annual event was hosted
A councillor has been left outraged after vandals tore down a fence that had only been up a few days. Witham West ward Braintree District Councillor Bill Rose was incensed when he discovered the chain-link fence bordering a children's play area on Flora
Braintree railway station is now fully catered for -now a mobile snack bar has been set up next to the newspaper stall. Newspaper seller Doug Fowler's wife Marguerite has packed-in her cleaning job and is back serving teas, coffees and breakfast to commuters
Almost 30 per cent of Eastern European migrants coming to Essex set up home in Braintree and Uttlesford, and the two district councils have now employed migrant community development officers to help immigrants settle. JULIA TAYLOR spoke to members of
A motorcyclist was rushed to hospital after a five vehicle collision near Coggeshall this morning. Police were called to the scene of the accident, on the A120 near to Holfied Grange, at 7.40am. The five vehicles involved were a black Audi A4, a grey
A London man faces jail after burgling a house in Witham while the owner was there. Viktor Nikulin, 24, pleaded guilty to the burglary of a computer and video game console from a flat in Penhaligon Court on September 15. Magistrates in Chelmsford heard
Braintree parents will be left high and dry when the new swimming pool opens at Freeport -without a creche. Braintree District Council has decided that the new pool facility, due to open in two months, does not need child care facilities. But mothers
A drug addict who begged police to jail him so he could continue drug treatment was turned down -so he broke a car window and turned himself in. Chelmsford magistrates heard that serial offender Jordan Lee Meers, 22, currently serving at Chelmsford prison
A Braintree man's new Saudi Arabian business venture could be put in doubt after he was jailed for a homophobic attack. But Stuart Makemson, 43, of Twelve Acres, was granted a reprieve when magistrates bailed him pending an appeal over his sentence for
The new A120 bypass boasts an unusual crossing -a Pegasus crossing or equestrian crossing that has high buttons for horse riders, named after the mythical winged horse, Pegasus. The crossing also has a separate holding area to segregate equestrians and
Confused motorists are unsure of what speed they should be driving on the new A120 bypass because the limit keeps changing. While the road works were taking place the speed limit was reduced to 40mph, but when the bypass opened last month new 60mph signs
