News in Maldon

A council licensing committee has decided that an application to extend hours at an Althorne vineyard should be granted - though now the venue has to wait for the outcome of a planning application to get the final go-ahead.

Crouch Ridge Vineyard, in Fambridge Road, applied to extend its wine barn license to allow sales and consumption of the produce on the premises up to 11pm each day. The owners hope to hold wine-tasting and wine and food pairing evenings.

VILLAGE fetes and other local events are the experiences we are most looking forward to when government restrictions are lifted, according to a poll seen by Nub News - something that's always been key to community life across Maldon district as a rural part of Essex.

The finding comes in a survey of more than 2,000 consumers for #wecreateexperiences, a campaign being launched today (30 March) by One Industry One Voice, a group representing the UK's events industry. Leading names from music, sports and showbiz are encouraging us to plan to start sharing live experiences again, with the message: "Together, we can do this right".

RESIDENTS across South Essex have reported a possible meteor shower or falling space debris that lit up the skies over the region overnight, with first comments and pictures appearing around 9 last night (Monday, 29 March).

Residents took to social media with an array of pictures and questions about the phenomena which had not been predicted.

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Both the play areas at Maldon Prom are open again following the easing of lockdown restrictions today (Monday, 29 March).

The re-opening was announced in a statement on the Promenade Park Facebook page this morning.

WEST Ham legend Julian Dicks is returning to Heybridge Swifts as first team manager on 1 July.

Dicks will resume his partnership with former Colchester United legend Karl Duguid; one that saw the Swifts win the Isthmian North play offs in 2019 only to be denied a promotion place due to an FA league reshuffle.

The NHS in Mid and South Essex is looking for Covid-19 patients prepared to take part in a trial to find new treatments for the disease.

Those in the area who are recovering from or currently have Covid-19 can now register their interest in taking part in the research.

Heybridge Basin Parish Council has decided to re-open the Daisy Meadow car park on Wednesday, 31 March.

However, with no toilet facilities available to visitors in the Basin, as the pubs and tearooms remain closed to dining in over the Easter weekend, councillors at a meeting last Thursday (25 March) took the decision with a degree of reluctance.

A FREAK fire caused by a toaster ended with a Maldon man having to flee his home and move into alternative accommodation.

The drama was played out at a ground floor flat in Cherry Garden Road yesterday (Sunday, 28 March) when the town's on-call firefighters rushed to the home to deal with the blaze just after 1.33pm. They were backed up by a second crew from Chelmsford.

The scale of the fight on wards of local hospitals against Covid-19 has been highlighted in the latest figures - which show that the area's hospitals suffered the second highest number of deaths in the UK since the start of the pandemic.

Latest figures released today (Sunday 28 March) - which show all Covid-related hospital deaths from the start of the pandemic up to and including yesterday - show that Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust has recorded 2,356 fatalities since last March.