• Privacy policy
  • T&C’s
  • FAQ
  • Meet the Team
  • About The London Economic
  • Advertise
TLE ONLINE SHOP!
NEWSLETTER
SUPPORT THE LONDON ECONOMIC
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
  • TLE
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Food
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech/Auto
No Result
View All Result
The London Economic
No Result
View All Result
Home News

New Year’s Eve ravellers trash 500-year-old church

Three have been arrested following the event which was attended by hundreds of people.

Jack Peat by Jack Peat
January 1, 2021
in News

Three people have been arrested after an unlicensed music event on New Year’s Eve during which hundreds of revellers trashed a 500-year-old church in Essex.

Members of the conservation group that supports All Saints Church in East Horndon – a Grade II* listed building – said they are “devastated” by the damage caused and estimate repairs could cost more than £1,000.

Organisers of the event set up a bar and DJ decks inside the church and hired Portaloos for partygoers.

Essex Police said officers had been threatened and had objects thrown at them while trying to engage with those present.

Hundreds of people

Astrid Gillespie, a volunteer for the Friends of All Saints, said she was “just trying to get her head round the news”, having found out via a Facebook post on New Year’s Day.

“I went up there and the police were still there packing up the equipment that they seized,” she told the PA news agency.

“There were hundreds of people there, it sounded like it was a ticketed event. It was a professional set-up, they’d hired Portaloos – they’re still there.

RelatedPosts

Prince Andrew trends amid latest attack on Meghan Markle’s character

Mail on Sunday denied permission to appeal against Meghan’s privacy victory

David Cameron is the latest ex-PM to receive a coronavirus vaccine

Pontins used ‘blacklist’ of Irish surnames to keep out Traveller families

“They had a bar area where you had to exchange tokens, so they must have been selling drinks tokens.

“There was loads of evidence of drugs and they’ve done damage to the church, obviously it’s a mess and needs to be completely cleaned out.

“The ground has been all churned up because they must have had vans dropping off all the equipment.”

Ms Gillespie, 48, said a small window had been smashed to put in an extractor fan unit and the sound equipment had been wired into the church’s fuse box.

She added that because of the building’s age and heritage status, the damage was “not going to be cheap” to fix, and that the locks would have to be replaced.

Clean up

“The vicar is going to organise a preliminary clean-up but it’s a huge task and we’re estimating £1,000 but it could well be more,” she said.

“I love the place, it’s such a beautiful church, and to find out it’s been damaged is devastating, I’m just trying to get my head around it.

“You wake up in the new year and think ‘new year, new me” and then you’ve got to deal with all this.”

Police said the crowds at the church were dispersed before midnight and that three arrests had been made.

A 27-year-old man from Harlow was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply class A drugs, a public order offence, and of offences under new coronavirus regulations.

A 22-year-old man from Harlow was arrested on suspicion of a public order offence, possession of cannabis, and of offences under coronavirus regulations.

A 35-year-old man from Southwark was also arrested on suspicion of possession of class A and class B drugs.

Officers from the force shut down a number of unauthorised events on New Year’s Eve and handed out organiser fines and fixed penalty notices totalling £18,000.

Related: Nicola Sturgeon tweets ‘Scotland will be back soon, Europe’ as leaders see in the New Year

Since you are here

Since you are here, we wanted to ask for your help.

Journalism in Britain is under threat. The government is becoming increasingly authoritarian and our media is run by a handful of billionaires, most of whom reside overseas and all of them have strong political allegiances and financial motivations.

Our mission is to hold the powerful to account. It is vital that free media is allowed to exist to expose hypocrisy, corruption, wrongdoing and abuse of power. But we can't do it without you.

If you can afford to contribute a small donation to the site it will help us to continue our work in the best interests of the public. We only ask you to donate what you can afford, with an option to cancel your subscription at any point.

To donate or subscribe to The London Economic, click here.

The TLE shop is also now open, with all profits going to supporting our work.

The shop can be found here.

You can also SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER .

Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism Support fearless, free, investigative journalism

Subscribe to our Newsletter

View our  Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions

Trending fromTLE

  • All
  • trending

What If We Got Rid Of Prisons?

Stress, fear and homelessness: The threat looming over families confronted with eviction

File photo dated 07/11/03 of a prison cell.

The Other Prison Pandemic

Latest from TLE

Prince Andrew trends amid latest attack on Meghan Markle’s character

Chancellor to extend furlough scheme until September as he unveils Budget

Image by AdobeStock

Weather forecast, alerts and UVB index for London, Wednesday 3 March 2021

Lucky Numbers and Horoscopes for today, 3 March 2021

About Us

TheLondonEconomic.com – Open, accessible and accountable news, sport, culture and lifestyle.

Read more

Address

The London Economic Newspaper Limited t/a TLE
Company number 09221879
International House,
24 Holborn Viaduct,
London EC1A 2BN,
United Kingdom

Contact

Editorial enquiries, please contact: jack@thelondoneconomic.com

Commercial enquiries, please contact: advertise@thelondoneconomic.com

SUPPORT

We do not charge or put articles behind a paywall. If you can, please show your appreciation for our free content by donating whatever you think is fair to help keep TLE growing and support real, independent, investigative journalism.

DONATE & SUPPORT

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.




No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
  • Politics
  • Opinion
  • Business
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Film
  • Lifestyle
  • Food
  • Property
  • Travel
  • Tech & Auto
  • About The London Economic
  • Meet the Team
  • Privacy policy

© 2019 thelondoneconomic.com - TLE, International House, 24 Holborn Viaduct, London EC1A 2BN. All Rights Reserved.