A BLACK Notley singer was selected to go on a week-long tour with X Factor band Kingsland Road.

Jessica Crow, 22, known as Jessica Alice to her fans, performed on six dates, supporting the five-piece boy band.

She said: "It's really exciting, hopefully it will increase my fan base and get interest from bigger labels."

Her new single My Life, featuring rapper Yomi, is out at the end of September and Jessica's video will be appearing on MTV and other music channels, however, a sneak preview is now on her YouTube channel.

"It's a positive song about doing what you want in your life," said Jessica, who released an anti-bullying song last October, touring schools and venues around the country to spread the message to stand up to bullies.

The tour at the start of this month saw her perform at Thorpe Park, Stratford, Bristol, Birmingham and Newcastle.

To catch up on Jessica's tour and watch her video, visit www.facebook.com/JessicaAliceOnline

A man was bitten by a white Labrador dog on the stomach while walking along a path outside a supermarket.

The man's skin was punctured in the incident, which happened on footpath at the side of Morrisons, Wycke Hill in Maldon, on Monday  (August 25) around 9.50pm. 

The victim was a  25 year-old local man, while the dog was with a man and a woman who are both described as white and between the ages of 35 and 45. 

The man was wearing a black coat with a hood and the woman was wearing a white coat. They were also walking with a black Labrador.

Pc Steve Clay would like this couple to contact him, or anyone who recognises their description. He can be contacted at Maldon Police station on 101.

A FORMER soldier blinded in one eye playing five-a-side football has cycled around the First World War memorials of Europe to raise money for partially-sighted veterans.

Ian Slack, 47, of Broad Road, Braintree, travelled around France and Belgium, visiting some of the most famous First World War battlefields and memorials, including Tyne Cot, Ypres and Amiens.

He said: "It was very emotional to see the amount of young men who lost their lives. It's just staggering. We were overwhelmed by the scale of it.

"There were graves stretching across the landscape. It was a good period of introspection," said Ian, who cycled about 130 miles a day during the trip earlier this month.

His five-day journey started with a train ride to Folkestone, then a bike ride of ten miles to Dover then on to Calais by ferry, before cycling about 57 miles to Ypres in Belgium.

Whilst in Ypres, Ian, and a fellow cyclist, also raising money for Blind Veterans UK, laid wreaths at the Menin Gate.

Ian chose the charity after being blinded in his right eye when he was hit by a football during a match he organised whilst stationed in Germany.

"It was only the third time I'd played football and I organised it as a fitness exercise. It was quite ironic after a lifetime of slagging off footballers – the first time I played football I broke my leg, the second I was sent off and the third I was blinded," he added.

The former Royal Engineer was also left temporarily blind for six weeks in his left after contracting a parasite while playing rugby in the Thailand Rugby Union.

Ian was medically discharged from the Army in 1997 after a ten-year career.

The group of 27 other cyclists raising funds for various veterans' charities, then travelled to Tyne Cot near Passendale – the biggest Commonwealth cemetery in the world.

They then journeyed nearly 90 miles south from Tyne Cot in Belgium to Arras in northern France, passing the Loos Memorial and the Vimy Trenches.

At the Thiepval Memorial they met a group of Chelsea Pensioners on a tour of the area in between Arras and Amiens before going the 63 miles to Compiegne, then on to Paris.

Ian has raised nearly £5,000 so far. To see his just giving page visit www.justgiving.com/ianslack and his blog is at www.slacky.me

MOTORISTS were left furious after a new road surface laid by Essex County Council in the rain damaged their cars.

Repair bills could run up to more than £1,000 for some vehicles following work to Steele Road between Mayland and Latchingdon.

It was undertaken during a torrential downpour, leaving loose Tarmac on the surface, which splashed the sides of vehicles and ruined tyres, according to some residents.

Kevin Gipson, 55, of Bramley Road, Mayland, saw his silver Ford Mondeo damaged by the loose stones and tar.

He has had to pay his £400 insurance excess for new tyres and a re-spray, for damage that could cost thousands.

He said: "I was furious when I saw the damage that the tar had done to my car. The car is my pride and joy and cost £13,000 and now it looks like a wreck.

"I have one neighbour who was towing a caravan with his 4x4 and it cost him £850 for four new tyres and my repairs could come to well over £1,000."

Kevin was returning from a shopping trip to Maldon in the heavy storm on Monday last week and only spotted the damage when he arrived back at his home.

"I was coming home from Maldon and didn't even realise.

"I thought the sound may have been water on the car," added Kevin, who lives with his wife, Rinata.

"When I got out of the car I noticed immediately.

"I've spoken to all my neighbours and no-one is very happy about it. There must be tonnes of cars nearby that the same thing has happened to.

"It's not like you can do anything to sort it out yourself – it needs special treatment to remove the tar and you can't drive with the stones on the bottom of your tyres because they have nothing to grip to."

Kevin, who works at car accessory firm Amtec in Witham, also expressed his disappointment that the Essex County Council complaints procedure which may take up to three months to settle.

"They've said basically that you are on your own and if you want to get anything fixed on your car then it's at your own risk which is not OK.

"You shouldn't have to wait three months to find out if a claim was successful, it should be a lot quicker than that.

"It's very frustrating. I would expect someone to come down and speak to me about it personally."

Essex County Council had not responded to a request for a comment at the time of going to press.

An 11-year-old has pleaded guilty to having a knife in a residential street.

The child had the weapon in Great Notley.

He appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on Thursday (August 21) and admitted one count of possessing a knife in a public place in relation to the incident on Friday, June 6.

The youngster, who cannot be named due to his age, was given a referral order for three months, ordered to pay a victim surcharge of £15 and costs of £20.

An order to forfeit and destroy the kitchen knife was also made by magistrates.

A PENSIONER died in a crash on the A12 outside Chelmsford on Friday (August 29) it has emerged.

The man, in his 70s, appears to have been taken ill at the wheel and collided with the central reservation between junctions 16 and 15 outside Galleywood around 2pm.

The crash involved one vehicle, a silver Hyundai. 

He was treated at the scene by ambulance crews, but unfortunately died. 

Firefighters are continuing to monitor a fire in Mountnessing that started 13 days ago.

As of 9am Sunday (August 31), two crews are currently on the scene at Thoby Lane where a controlled burn of 5,000 tonnes of woodchip is taking place.

The fire, which started on Monday, August 18, and at its height had nine appliances battling it, is expected to go on for a few more days before it is extinguished.

The ambulance service covering Essex has been fined £1.2m because of their slow response times to life-threatening emergencies.

The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) failed to respond to 75 per cent of the most serious emergencies within eight minutes from April to July.

And the trust, which deals with more than 900,000 emergency 999 calls a year, has also been fined £300,000 over turnaround times at hospitals. 

The fine was issued by the 19 clinical commissioning groups, the GP-led organisations in charge of local NHS budgets where the ambulance service covers.

It serves 19 clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), the GP-led organisations in charge of local NHS budgets.

Wendy Tankard, chief contracts officer at Ipswich and East and West Suffolk CCGs, and East of England Ambulance Consortium lead, said :"The Commissioning Consortium will continue to work with and monitor EEAST to address areas of under performance and ensure those improvements are made to ensure our population receives the best possible care."

It must pay the £300,000 fine now and the £1.2m at the end of the financial year.

Statistics

All ambulance NHS trusts are expected to respond to potentially life threatening cases (or Red 1 & Red 2) by reaching targets set by the Government in eight minutes.

NHS Mid Essex ambulances responding to Red 1 and Red 2 calls within eight minutes:

April 64.71% (Red 1)  59.12% (Red 2)

May 61.43% (Red 1) 56.84% (Red 2)

June 65.22% (Red 1) 60.12% (Red 2) 

July 75.81% (Red 1) 58.02%  (Red 2)

Patient handover at hospital

It is expected to take no more than 15 minutes for a patient to be handed into the care of hospital emergency department staff and another 15 minutes for the ambulance crew to clean the vehicle and be available to respond to the next 999 call. 

Broomfield Hospital July 2014

Hours, minutes and seconds lost on arrival to hand going over 15 minutes

03:16:06 

Hours, minutes and seconds lost over 15 minutes for ambulance crews to clean the vehicle and be ready for next 999 call

23:20:42

A POLICE helicopter was sent up over Chelmsford to look for a man acting suspiciously this afternoon (August 31).

At around 1.30pm, a man was seen climbing over the fence of Whitley House Surgery in Writtle Road.

As of 2.40pm, police are now at the scene and the helicopter was sent up to assist with an area search for the man.

He is described as white, in his 20s, approximately 5 ft 8 ins tall and wearing a dark coloured flat cap. Enquiries are ongoing. 

A woman  has suffered severe burns to her face, arms and chest after attempting to tackle a chip pan fire by throwing water on it. 

The 999 call to Gideons Way, Stanford le Hope, came in at 12.03pm and two crews from Orsett dealt with the fire by 12.18pm. 

They then gave the woman first aid and trauma care before leaving her in the care of the Ambulance Service.

Sub Officer Kevin Hercock, incident commander, said: "Incidents like this show how dangerous it is to throw water on burning fat. The water causes the fire to flare up and become much larger and in this case the woman was left suffering terrible burns as a result of throwing water on the fire.

"Incidents like this show how quickly an everyday activity like cooking can become extremely dangerous unless care is taken. It is vital that people pay attention when they're cooking and that if a chip pan or frying pan does catch fire that they never ever throw water on it."

The best thing to do if a fire does break out on a pan is to throw a damp tea towel over it, leave the kitchen closing the door behind you, get everyone safely out and dial 999.

More than half the house fires in the county start in the kitchen.

Essex County Fire and Rescue's tips to staying safe in the kitchen:

• Avoid leaving cooking unattended and never leave children in the kitchen alone.

• If you have to leave the kitchen to answer the door or send a text, turn off the cooker.

• Never leave children alone whilst cooking – what's more important, your text or your child?

• Take care if you're wearing loose clothing – they can easily catch fire.

• Keep tea towels and cloths away from the cooker and hob.

• Check toasters are clean and placed away from curtains and kitchen rolls.

• Keep the oven, hob and grill clean and in good working order. A build up of fat and grease can ignite a fire.

• Take care when cooking with hot oil – it sets alight easily. If the oil starts to smoke – it's too hot. Turn off the heat and leave it to cool. Ideally cook oven chips but if you are deep fat frying then use a thermostat controlled electric deep fat fryer - they can't overheat.

• Never try to cook after a night out drinking. It is far better to grab a kebab on the way home than to attempt to cook while intoxicated.

DRASTIC cuts to firefighter numbers in Chelmsford will lead to a death, the chairman of the Essex Fire Brigade Union (FBU) has claimed.

Alan Chinn-Shaw claims Essex Fire & Rescue Service's ongoing reshuffle, which is whittling the 60 officers based at Waterhouse Lane down to 52, will increase response times.

"Every second counts so if you slow response times down it will end with someone losing their life," he said.

"By reducing the numbers you reduce the amount of time that fire appliances are available for fire call and it's my opinion, and the FBU's, that this is creating a risk that is waiting to happen."

Eight officers of the Chelmsford workforce have started being placed at other county stations struggling to make up numbers.

By September these officers will be based permanently at other stations, leaving Chelmsford with 13 officers per shift as opposed to 15.

Figures released to the Chronicle via a Freedom of Information Request in February also revealed 53.7 per cent of shifts were under-crewed in 2013.

Mr Chinn-Shaw, who was sub-officer at Chelmsford before he was drafted into the union in July 2012, said the reduction in staff will mean only one of Waterhouse Lane's two fire engines will be available at any one time.

"In effect, where you previously had two fire appliances available you only have one," he said.

"You will have to wait a considerable time for another one to attend. The time people have to wait is being increased."

But a Essex County Fire and Rescue spokesman said the service was now attending fewer than half the incidents it did 10 years ago.

Fire Authority chairman Anthony Hedley said. "The reduction in fire calls is testimony to the significant safer communities work the Service does in rising to the challenge of pro-actively preventing and protecting the communities of Essex from the impact of operational incidents." 

The spokesman further explained the changes were being implemented due to a lack of demand.

He said: "The service has five aerial ladder platforms which are strategically located at fire stations to provide the best cover across the entire county. 

"Although the aerial ladder platforms (ALP) offer a very important operational capability, a detailed analysis of three years' operational activity revealed that each one was called out an average of 50 times a year and Chelmsford's ALP attended an average of just 44 calls a year in that period and only 34 calls last year.

"The staffing costs to solely crew these without the rescue tenders would be £1.8 million a year.

"Chelmsford Fire Station has two other special appliances: The Incident Response Unit which attended one incident last year and the Water Bowser which has been used just 41 times since November 2012."

But he admitted the new plans will see the service 'jump crew' each aerial ladder platform, and the other special units based at Chelmsford.

He said: "This will mean that, where the special appliances are needed, there will be times when one of the pumping appliances at Chelmsford is then not available for further operational calls. 

"However, the number of occasions this will occur will be minimal and in releasing personnel to assist in keeping the pumping appliance available, it is highly probable that this decision will lead to pumping appliances having a higher availability."

The Chelmsford reshuffle, which is also being implemented in Colchester, forms part of a series of cutbacks by the service.

It aims to reduce its 656 county officers, as of 2012/13, by 179 and make £7.7 million in savings by 2017/18.

The service was initially hoping to find savings of £5.9 million, but upped the estimation after announcing it was paying £15 million in debt to the government.

Essex Fire Authority, responsible for the service, announced the debt earlier this month, explaining it had been building up a £1.8 million shortfall every year since 2006 due to an accounting discrepancy.

Mr Chinn-Shaw added: "It would be a travesty through an accounting error if we end up reducing fire cover in Essex."

He accepts the service needs to make cuts, but believes it should do so by tackling backroom staff as opposed to frontline officers.

He said: "We believe they shouldn't have frozen the council tax requirement which would have raised an extra £1.5 million and we believe in better rationalisation of support and background staff to help fund.

"I don't want anyone to lose their job and be made redundant. However, the people of Essex pay their taxes for their money to be spent and focused on fire prevention and quick response times.

"But the bulk of savings are coming from frontline response."

The Chronicle tried speaking to serving officers at Chelmsford but they would not communicate with us on the subject.

But a spokesman for the service said this would not affect the full-time Great Baddow or South Woodham Ferrers stations in "any way at all".

Tomorrow is forecast to start with light cloud before sunny intervals from 2pm onwards, with highs of 20C.

And the clear skies and sunshine will continue throughout Wednesday and Thursday, with the mercury predicted to reach 22C.

Sunny intervals are also expected on Saturday, while Sunday is thought to be cloudy, but dry.

The summer holidays will be a distant memory for youngsters as they trudge back to school throughout this week.

But it will also be an anxious time for parents and they wave goodbye to their youngsters for the school and gates. Not to mention those moving up the ladder to secondary school. But how can they have peace of mind?

These top 10 tips, from parenting experts,and mothers alike might help them along:

Have a practice run

For a child used to a routine of nursery and staying home with mum, the sudden introduction of the school day can be unexpected and surprising. To minimise this surprise, it is therefore a good idea to take your child through a dry run of how the day might go. This would involve doing the school run with your child and visiting the school before their first day. If the child can become familiar with their classroom and teacher beforehand, it will be less of a shock when they have their first day, and should help them cope better with this new setup.

Introduce school rules to the home

One of the biggest changes your child is going to have to deal with when starting school for the first time is the requirement to obey school rules. To a young child used to the freedoms of home life, it may not be immediately clear why they should 'keep your shirt tucked in' or 'put their hand up to talk'.For this reason, it can be a good idea to begin the implementation of such rules prior to your child's starting school. By getting used to a set of rules, the child is likely to grasp them more quickly, and stay out of trouble.

Let go 

Starting school can be a stressful time for the children, but often it can be even more stress inducing for the parents. Parents want to cling hold of their children for as long as possible, and letting their children out into the big wide world of school poses a daunting prospect. The problem is that such smothering does nothing to help the child. Not allowing their child to do this would have dire consequences for how they are able to socialise with other children, as the child becomes too used to the comfort of home life.

Arrange playdates 

It's up to you to solidify the grounds of a potential life-long friendship by arranging playdates with the parents of other children in their class. This is a crucial step in ensuring your child develops strong friendships within the class. One point to note though is not to overload your child with playdates. It might be best to identify just one or two other children in the beginning and let your child build a friendship with them, before branching out further.

Make school seem fun 

Encourage the idea of school as a place of fun If your child enjoys school, and even finds it fun going to school, not only does it going to keep your child smiling, but it's also going to make them a more willing pupil. Tell them funny stories about the times when you were at school, ask them about the funny things that happened at school that day – anything to reinforce the idea that school is a fun place to be.

Trial the walk to school 

Whilst starting primary school for the first time can be an unnerving experience, the transition to secondary school is arguably even more intimidating. One thing that you don't want your child to be worrying about though is something as basic as how to get there. At this age, your child should be capable of walking to school by themselves, but it can be well worth the effort of walking through the journey with your child before their first day, just to make sure they are comfortable with the journey.

Help them organise a system 

One of the main differences between primary and secondary school is that the responsibility for getting things done shifts from the parent to the child. It is important that you prepare your child for this shift, as when they turn up with the wrong books for class; it's going to be them who gets the blame. As well as making sure they are aware of this, it is worth forming something of a system to ensure they are organised. Organisation will be key not just in their time at school, but also beyond that in future.

Check they are on top of their homework 

The sudden influx of homework on a larger scale is one of the key differences between primary and secondary school. Even the most organised pupil will sometimes require extra encouragement to ensure they get all their homework done on time and as a parent you can help provide this encouragement. Ask them what homework they have to do and check they've done it. 

Keep up with school affairs 

In secondary school, the parents can often feel cut out of the loop. Messages from the school about events and affairs are trusted to the children themselves, and often the message can get lost between child and parent. But it's worth keeping up with what's going on at the school in case there is some opportunity you feel your child should take advantage of. So why not rummage through their school bag to check if there are any letters that didn't get passed on, or check the school website for latest bulletin updates to make sure you are on top of everything going on at your school.

Talk to your child 

With starting secondary school, worries and fears can frequently be buried by children, and significant issues can be left to fester. Often a parent is the only person the child might feel comfortable talking to about such issues, so it's important to regularly talk to them about their school day, to ensure problems are not left alone.

Today's the day many football fans will be waiting for, when the final day's business is conducted in the Barclays Premier League.

The likes of Manchester United are expected to be extremely busy as a manic day of comings and goings is conducted.

The transfer window officially closes at 11pm GMT today (September 1), but final transfer business can sometimes continue after that.

The transfer window for permanent moves next opens in January but loan moves can be made from September 8 until November 25.