A YOUNG girl in Leigh was given Halloween chocolate containing a hidden blade, which she discovered while trying to eat.

We let our own children participate in "trick or treat", accompanied of course, but this incident does show the mixed message we are giving our children.

One of the most enduring safety messages I remember being drummed into me as a child was "do not take sweets from a stranger", and yet once a year children are encouraged to do just that, even knocking on strangers’ doors to do so.

It would be a shame to ruin children’s fun, but the trick or treat aspect of Halloween is one tradition that would be better to let fade away.

PETER NICHOLLS

London Road,

Westcliff

Give king’s treasure its own museum

Robert Hallmann is a very knowledgeable local historian. 

I am delighted that he wrote to the Echo about my campaign for the Saxon king museum.  The campaign is growing, with more support in the pages of the Echo.

He, like me, thinks that they should be housed in their own museum.

It would bring people to the town and we certainly need that.  Over 100 ,000 people visited Sutton Hoo. Our traders need that. 

After Covid many are struggling, once people visit the museum, they will then visit other amenities in the town. They will need to eat and explore Now we are to be a city. What better way to commemorate Sir David Amess.

MARION PEARCE

Southend

Protect majestic tree from harm
To quote Boris Johnson, let us hope the “eyes of the world” are on Basildon Council when it eventually fells the 80-year-old London Plane Tree outside Wickford’s old library, for no apparent reason other than it is just in the way.


Trees are all part of our culture. The forerunner of Basildon Council, the Basildon Development Corporation, planted millions of trees realising that they were important for the environment as well as adding some greener land to an otherwise desolate place. 


They have served us well, although many trees have since been lost to over-development in certain area of the borough but never – as far as I can remember – has such an important tree been felled just because a certain developer, in this case the Pegasus Group, has requested it. Don’t we have more respect for our trees?


Louise Howeson in her timely article under the heading of “Thousands sign petition to save beloved Wickford tree”, points out that more than 1,600 people have already signed a petition to stop this tree being chopped down, which should be reaching the 2,000 mark by time this letter gets printed. 


This is wonderful tree, with a girth of more than 2 meters, stands at the entrance  to the library in Market Road. 


Does Basildon Council realise that they have a pledge in service of our planet to safeguard all there trees and, if not, they should make a declaration here and now to play some small part in reducing the resultant climate crisis, which is man-kind’s greatest challenge of the millennia.  Without this, we, the local residents, are doomed to an uncertain future.


We all need to be persistent, ambitious and forward thinking – when our local newspaper reports on the human consequences of the climate emergency that the scientists tell us is upon us.  


Our local newspaper, the Echo, has provided a platform for more voices to be heard, so I hope many more of their readers will join us in saving this important part of our environment, and any further trees that are similarly threatened will be saved for future generations.


When and if Basildon Council responds to this challenge, they might just tell us what is the boroughs annual carbon audit, and how they intend to reduce this over the coming years.
VIN HARROP

Rosslyn Road, Billericay