NHS data shows 64,430 people had received both jabs by May 16 – 53 per cent of those aged 16 and over. Of those to have received both jabs, 58,847 were aged 40 and over, 65 per cent of the age group. It means 5,583 people aged between 16 and 39 have received both doses. Across Tendring, 77 per cent of those aged 16 and over have received their first jab. Weeley and Thorpe-le-Soken was the area which had the highest coverage with 87.5 per cent of people aged 16 and over given their first dose. Next was Holland-on-Sea with 83.8 per cent followed by Frinton West and Kirby with a first vaccination rate of 83.3 per cent.
Published:
10:21 AM May 21, 2021
The Wormingford Dragon, portrayed in the stained glass window of St Andrew s Church
- Credit: Liz Trenow
The best-selling novel The Essex Serpent, which was recently filmed locally for a major movie, was apparently inspired by the 17th century account of a ‘monstrous serpent’ near Saffron Walden.
But this is not the only story of mysterious creatures from the county. There is another, much earlier, myth of a serpent or dragon that terrorised the villagers of Bures and Wormingford near Colchester. Indeed Wormingford, originally Withermundford, was renamed in honour of the legend, ‘worme’ being a medieval term for a dragon. It was first reported in 1405 by a monk who thrillingly described: ‘an evil dragon of excessive length with a huge body, crested head, saw-like teeth and elongated tail. . . arrows sprang from its ribs as if they were metal or hard stone’.
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The heroine decides she must act, but as the heatwave breaks in a violent storm, her brother disappears. Liz said: “Although my story is entirely fictional The Secrets of the Lake was inspired by the intriguing legend of a dragon that was said to live in a supposedly bottomless lake close to the village where I was brought up. “In a nearby church there is a wonderful stained glass window showing a fearsome dragon – obviously a crocodile – with a pair of white legs waving from its mouth, being threatened by a knight on a white charger. “After seeing this as a child, and long before they became commonplace in children’s books, tv and adverts, I became fascinated by dragons, and my first foray into writing fiction, aged eight, was inspired by this myth.