Today, Sunday 31st July, it’s open day at the main fire station in Southend. Free entry til 4pm and is a fun family day. Sit in a fire engine, play in the fire boat and have a look around the station. There are a series of demos and there’s a bouncy castle for the kids. [...]

On Sunday the 24th of July 2011, there’s some free theatre in Southend’s Priory Park, suitable for all the family. “The Anglo Saxon World of Beowulf” takes place from 4pm to 6.30pm This is a brand new work, set to an original score, inspired by the epic poem of Beowulf. If you’re not familiar with [...]

Today marks the close of the 2011 Southend Film Festival, Southend’s celebration of film. Screenings took place at the Palace Theatre, the Park Inn Plaza and the Pod at South Essex College, and you can find out more about this year’s film festival at http://www.southendfilmfestival.com The reason for this post? To draw your attention to [...]

Into milkshakes? Southend’s about to get its very own ShakeAway Milkshake bar. Southend Shakeaway opens in the Victoria Shopping Centre on Saturday 19th March 2011 at 1pm and we’re told that they’ll be giving away the first 50 milkshakes free. The ShakeAway chain was established in 1999 and sells over 150 flavours of Milkshakes and [...]

The 2011 Southend Airshow will not be held this May Bank Holiday as expected. As part of cost-cutting measures, this year’s airshow won’t run over the May Bank Holiday Sunday and Monday normal, but instead will take place on Saturday 28th May and Sunday 29th May 2011. One of the reasons cited of moving the [...]

It’s the year of the Rabbit, and Southend is celebrating today. All day today, Saturday the 5th of February 2011, there are a number of activities taking place to celebrate the Chinese New Year. The day’s events kicked off at 11am with a short speech by the Mayor of Southend, then an impressive display of [...]

Thanks to those who made the trip to the end of Southend Pier today, to see the Sarfend Visitors Book placed in the safe custody of the team at the RNLI Gift Shop. The idea for a Sarfend Visitors book came from  ex-pat Brian Mendes, who now lives in Ontario, Canada. Brian is a regular [...]

A quick reminder that the Sarfend Visitor’s Book Signing Event takes place tomorrow, Thursday the 18th of November 2010. We’d like to encourage all of our site visitors and forum regulars to visit Southend Pier, where The Worshipful the Mayor of Southend-on-Sea, Councillor Ann Holland will be signing the Sarfend Visitors Book at 1pm. We’ll [...]

It’s firework season, and we’re down at Southend seafront blogging live from Southend Council’s Festival of Fireworks. 8pm tonight, Saturday the 30th of October, saw the start of the free fireworks display, with fireworks launched from a barge moored just to the East of Southend Pier. Attached is a pic, live from the top level [...]

This Thursday, the 28th, sees the grand opening of the relaunched Mecca Bingo, Southend. The new-look Mecca Southend Club, located on the Greyhound Retail Park has undergone a £1.5million refurb, and offers a bar, cafe, amusements, and of course, the chance to win with the magic bingo balls. There’s a re-launch party from 5.30pm on [...]

The Southend Carnival launched today, and runs until Saturday the 21st of August. The main focus of the annual August event is the fair held at Chalkwell Park. It’s open from 2pm to 10pm (8pm Sunday) with fairground rides, win-a-fluffy-thing stalls and lots of candyfloss. The highlight of the carnival is the illuminated “torchlight” parade [...]

Although the Digital TV Switchover won’t affect most Southenders until April 2012, Sky’s been busy in Southend Town Centre, as it’s the first day of their four day “Sky Southend-on-Sea Roadshow“. If you happen to be at the Odeon end of Southend High Street between today, the 29th of July, and Sunday the 1st of [...]

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 [...]

Day One of the Southend Air Show (“Festival of the Air”) is drawing to a close. Visibility’s been great, but the high winds have caused a couple of displays to be cancelled, including the Battle of Britain flypast. The winds have not stopped some impressive flying from various RAF aircraft, a display by the rescue [...]