ONE YEAR AGO

August 22, 2007

The Very Rev Philip Need was “honoured and humbled” to be appointed as a new Canon of Chelmsford Cathedral by the Bishop of Chelmsford.

He had chaired the Diocesan Pastoral Committee, which dealt with many issues across Essex and east London, for the past seven years, working closely with the bishop and senior staff, and believed that may have had something do to with his new title.

He said his church, St Mary the Virgin, Bocking, where he had been dean for 11 years, allowed him to be involved in this bigger work and supported him.

* Generous donors contributed just over £15,000 to a charity fund set up in memory of Sally Clark, who was wrongly convicted of killing her two baby sons.

Mrs Clark spent more than three years in prison and always insisted her sons, Christopher, aged 11 weeks, and Harry, aged eight weeks, were the victims of cot death.

She was released in 2003 when her sentence was quashed after new medical evidence emerged that had not been presented at her trial.

She died in March this year at her home in Hatfield Peverel.

TEN YEARS AGO

August 20, 1998

A concert promoter faced an £80,000 loss after pop fans failed to turn up for a charity fun day at the Essex Showground.

More than 30,000 people were expected to descend on the Great Leighs venue to raise money for the homeless charity Shelter, but only about 300 fans actually showed up.

It was hoped that as much as £¼ million would be raised by the inaugural event and that it would grow in popularity like Virgin’s concerts at Chelmsford’s Hylands Park.

* Prisons minister Lord Williams of Mostyn agreed to meet bereaved Coggeshall couple Paul and Audrey Edwards to discuss an alleged cover-up.

The couple’s son Christopher, a 30-year-old graduate with mental health problems, was beaten and stamped to death by a schizophrenic cell-mate in Chelmsford Prison in November 1994.

The couple had to wait until June this year for the results of an independent inquiry into their son’s death.

40 YEARS AGO

August 23, 1968

The wedding of a 19-year-old woman from Bradwell went ahead as planned on Saturday while her younger brother lay dying in hospital after a road accident a few hours earlier.

The 16-year-old was knocked down outside his home at Mill View Cottages and was taken to Notley Hospital with head injuries and fractures.

He was quickly transferred to the Brentwood annexe of London Hospital, but died the next day.

The boy’s father, who gave the bride away, said he managed to get through the ceremony because he couldn’t let his daughter down.

* A 20-year-old man, said to have been “in Borstal for so many years he was unable to stand on his own two feet”, appeared before Braintree magistrates accused of stealing ten shillings from a gas meter in South Street.

The man, of no fixed address, was sentenced to six months in prison. He told magistrates he was “so hard up for money and so desperate”.

His probation officer said that three prospective employers were impressed by his frankness about his Borstal detention, but since the report about his impending appearance in court, one employer didn’t want “any more to do with his kind”.

50 YEARS AGO

August 21, 1958

The future of the Institute, Braintree – which housed the only hall in the town large enough to hold stage shows and full-scale dances – was in doubt this week following emergency meetings of the trustees and management committee.

The building, which was given to the town 100 years ago by George Courtauld, had been running at a loss for some time. The biggest contribution to the Institute’s financial downfall had been heavy tax and rate demands.

The chairman of the management committee said the trustees and committee were anxious to ensure that, whatever happened, the building would continue to serve the town in the way that was intended under the trust.