ONE YEAR AGO

September 5, 2007

Unwanted dogs at the RSPCA Danaher Animal Home, Wethersfield, now have half their new accommodation finished, after fundraising enabled 24 new kennels to be built ahead of schedule.

The £225,000 block is fibre-glass insulated, tiled and sloped to filter out water, with large latches so staff can let dogs out in their cages for fresh air.

* Men of all ages have stripped off for a charity calender.

The idea was hatched as they were having a pint in the Horse and Groom pub, Cornish Hall End. Kelly Bishop, licensee, said: “I mentioned to a few locals about getting their kit off for charity and was pleasantly surprised at their response.”

The models range from teenagers to pensioners, and money raised from the Everyman Unplugged 2008 calendar will go to the Everyman campaign to raise awareness of prostate and testicular cancer and fund research.

TEN YEARS AGO

September 3, 1998

Mindless vandals have wrecked a church porch, leaving eight windows smashed and others torn from their frames.

Stunned members of the congregation at the Church of St Mary the Virgin, Bocking, arrived at the church on Sunday morning to be met with a scene of total devastation.

Despite the damage, Dean of Bocking, the Very Rev Philip Need, was adamant the normal Sunday service should go ahead and the congregation did their best to clear up the superficial damage.

Mr Need said: “I hope that one day when those responsible for this require the services of the church that they may just have a pang of conscience.”

* More than 30 illegal immigrants, believed to be from Kosovo, have been discovered at two separate incidents on the M11, north of junction eight, near Stansted Airport.

About 17 people jumped out of the back of an Italian-registered vehicle after it was involved in a collision with two other vehicles. An Essex Police helicopter was deployed when the immigrants started to run across a field, and they were later found in the Elsenham area.

The second incident involved about 14 immigrants, who were found climbing out of the back of a lorry parked at the Birchanger services about an hour later. Both drivers of the lorries were arrested and later released.

40 YEARS AGO

September 6, 1968

A police constable was killed when he was involved in a collision with a passing car as he was carrying out a roadside check on the Kelvedon bypass.

The 27-year-old was stationed with the traffic department at Chelmsford. It is understood he left a patrol car to question a motorcyclist by the London-bound carriageway, and collided with a passing car on the Colchester-bound track.

* Slater Walker Securities have offered the Crittall houses in Silver End to Witham Council for the “bargain” price of £500,000. The offer includes all the houses, but not the land owned by the group.

50 YEARS AGO

September 4, 1958

Farmers described the harvesting situation as “disastrous”, “grim” and “desperate” after Friday night’s torrential rainfall.

Many of them felt it would take at least three consecutive good years to counter-balance the losses sustained during this year’s poor harvest – the worst experienced by even the oldest farm hands in the Braintree area.