In this week’s Halstead Gazette, we report on the first steps being made to repair a much loved footbridge.

Following a five year wait, Braintree Council have agreed to pau £6,000 for a structural report on the Riverside footbridge which connects Sainsbury’s car park to Rosemary Lane.

Elsewhere in the paper:

Halstead Rotary Club members are getting on their bike to raise funds for Prostate Cancer Research.

A man who survived a life changing stroke is now preparing to cycle 200 miles along the North Norfolk Coast to raise funds to the Stroke Association just two years later.

Richard de Clare School is celebrating its 175th anniversary, with a host of fun and events.

A super skier has been crowned one of the top in England for her age.

MP James Cleverly says he is backing Boris Johnson in race for leadership.

A fundraiser is angry as her charity event banners keep getting taken down.

The battle against the closure of a number of Essex libraries, including Sible Hedingham, continues.

A church is launching a £1000 appeal to restore its organ.

A doctors surgery is told it must get better or face closure.

And a fabulous spread of pictures from the fantastic Heditude festival in Sible Hedingham last weekend.