ONE YEAR AGO

August 1, 2007

Tributes have been paid to one of the area’s most famous residents, who has died aged 67.

Comedian and former EastEnders star Mike Reid, of Great Easton, suffered a heart attack on Sunday while in Spain.

The actor, who played Frank Butcher in the popular BBC soap, had lived with his wife, Shirley, in Great Easton for more than ten years.

* An elderly couple had to be cut from their car following a head-on collision.

Fire crews and the police were called to the accident, at the mini-roundabout in Queenborough Lane, Rayne, at 10pm on Saturday.

The couple were taken by ambulance to Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford, after their car was involved in a collision with a blue Ford Focus, whose driver was arrested on suspicion of drink-driving.

40 YEARS AGO

August 2, 1968

A 15-year-old girl was so annoyed when she read in the Braintree and Witham Times that an Australian living in Braintree had been ordered to leave this country, that she has started a petition opposing the order.

George Stamatatos, 21, of Bradford Street, Braintree, was ordered by the Home Office to leave the country by August 31.

Mr Stamatatos, a dyer at Courtauld’s Bocking mill, had asked for an extension to enable him to save enough money for his fare back to Australia, but this was refused.

Jacqueline Lawrence, of Dixon’s Lane, Great Bardfield, who knew Mr Stamatatos vaguely from seeing him in the town, was so incensed when she read the article that she asked him if he would allow her to organise a petition on his behalf.

* A couple have retired after more than 20 years helping at local gymkhanas.

Walter Gray, 76, and his wife Queenie, 61, of London Road, Braintree, have helped at gymkhanas in Gosfield, White Notley, Shalford, Great Bardfield, Marks Tey, Great Leighs, Halstead, Greenstead Green, Stisted, Totham and Earls Colne.

45 YEARS AGO

August 2, 1963

After an all-night search by her father in his car and a daylight search by police with dogs and Civil Defence volunteers, a seven-year-old girl, who had been missing since Saturday, was found in Panfield, almost 40 miles away from her home.

Susan Hart, of Harold Hill, near Romford, went for a bike ride, but she kept on cycling until she had travelled about 30 miles, and then she slept in a field during the night.

In the morning, she went to the home of Mrs M Catterwell in Back Lane, Panfield, and asked for a glass of water. When the youngster said she came from Romford, Mrs Catterwell suggested the police ought to be informed as her parents would be worried about her. Susan was reunited with her father at a police station in Romford.