This weekend, Old Leigh played host to the Leigh Folk Festival. although it was a swelteringly hot day on Sunday, the crowds turned out in force to watch a day of free live music, street theatre, dancing, concerts, comedy and a parade.

If you’re interested, there’s a small selection of photos of the 2010 Leigh Folk Festival, the 19th annual event, here: Leigh Folk Festival Summary

Well done to the organisers for another unique and eclectic mix of events and culture, and to the performers, musicians, dancers and singers for performing so well despite the heat!

Another day, another iPhone launch! Queues started forming well before 6am outside the Southend o2 store for today’s launch of the Apple iPhone 4.

At at 7am, the queue already numbers 50.

Update: By 8am, queues continues to grow to at least 150. o2 staff came to inform those beyond a certain point, by our estimate, those after position 70, that queuing would be at risk, due to stock levels. Some waited it out, but many abandoned their quest for the latest shiny new smartphone.

Live from the Freedom of Southend Parade, Southend High Street, 17 June 2010.

The 1st Battalion The Royal Anglian Regiment, back from their third tour of duty in Afganistan are currently marching down Southend High Street, being cheered by thousands of locals.

The troops have just been inspected by the Mayor, the Deputy Colonel of the Royal Anglian Regiment, the Lord Lieutenant of Essex and the High Sheriff of Essex. The troops are now marching down the centre of the High Street towards the seafront.

The freedom of the borough of Southed is awarded to people that have rendered outstanding service to the community, and is the highest award that the council can make.

Here are a couple of pictures, live from the scene.

Update: See our forum for more photos and discussion: sarfend.co.uk/cgi-bin/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1276785742

Crowds are gathering in Southend High Street for this afternoon’s parade to welcome home soldiers from the 1st Battalion The Royal Anglican Regiment, back from their third tour of duty in Afganistan.

Crowds started gathering at around 11am, with many waving the Union Jack. The parade is expected to start at 1230.

The scene from the centre of the High Street at noon:

Today, the 15th of June 2010 marks a historic day for radio broadcasting, and it all happened here in Essex.

Many Southenders will remember the birth of the first local radio station for Southend-on-Sea as Essex Radio, back in September 1981, broadcasting from Clifftown Road, but the first real radio station from Essex, was MZX, an experimental Marconi station.

After a few test broadcasts, in June 1920, world renowned opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba, performed a pioneering radio broadcast from the Marconi works in Chelmsford.

While few heard this early broadcast, it was a world first, and that and other subsequent broadcasts cemented Essex as the home of broadcasting.

To commemorate this broadcast, radio amateurs (radio hams) in Chelmsford have been hosting an exhibition and broadcasting to other enthusiasts under the callsign GB90MZX.

We’ve been lucky enough to record an interview with John Bowen, the Chairman of the Chelmsford Amateur Radio Society, which has been kindly hosted by our podcasting friends at FrequencyCast.

If you’re interested in the history of radio in our county, please take a listen to this 20 minute interview. You’ll find it at www.frequencycast.co.uk/historyofradio.html

Locals in Leigh-on-Sea wondering what the commotion in the Eastwood Boulevard / Cavendish Gardens at the moment, note that two fire engines from Southend station are in attendance at a fire on waste ground off Nelson Road, next to the old Albany Laundry site.

Smoke is billowing from what looks like a blue hut or shed. Fireman have had to use short ladders to gain access to the site.

Taken at the scene in Leigh at 9:30pm for Sarfend.co.uk

Little Havens Children’s Hospice in Thundersley needs your vote  as it goes head to head with other Lottery-funded projects from across the UK in the semi-finals of The National Lottery Awards 2010.

The National Lottery Awards are an annual search to find the UK s favourite Lottery-funded projects, and Little Havens Children’s Hospice is one of only 10 projects to make it through in the Best Voluntary/Charity Project category. All the projects in the running have already received Lottery funding and the Awards celebrate how they have put that money to good use. We’re urging you to show your support by casting a vote to help Little Havens Children s Hospice make it through to the final stage.

Lauren Summers, Head of Care at Little Havens Children s Hospice, says: “We’re delighted to have reached the semi-finals of The National Lottery Awards. Lottery funding helped to fund the equivalent of eight full-time registered sick children s nurses for three years and showed how vital the work of the hospice is. Without this funding we really wouldn t have got to where we are today. We’re really hoping the public gets behind us and votes as it would be fantastic to get national recognition for the work that we do.”

Voting for the semi-finals ends at midday on Friday 18 June 2010. To cast a vote for Little Havens Children s Hospice, call
0844 686 5047 or go to  www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk/awards