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All Things Digital & More
If you’ve been following The Colchester Circle website over the past few months, you will have seen our fantastic redesign. We’ve teamed up with 77 Studios to create site that benefits our readers to the max. Find out more about this local creative duo from the masterminds themselves, Paul Boreham...
Benn’s tips for Olympic Hair
Benjamin Charles takes inspiration from the Olympic Games for this issue’s top hair tips. Greece In classical Greece, women’s hair was long and pulled back into a chignon. Many dyed their hair red with henna and sprinkled it with gold powder, often adn...
Benjamin Charles: A Cut Above
It’s hard to remember a time when the terms ‘recession’, ‘credit crunch’ and ‘tough economic climate’ weren’t bandied around on a daily basis. Claire Owen finds out why Benjamin Charles is bucking the trend. It seems that tales of woe are everywhere – companies going into receiv...
Lose Inches In Your Lunch Break
Anastasia Grabova finds out how to get trim and toned, without lifting a single dumbbell. I don’t know about you but I’ve been looking forward to summer ever since the sun set on the last one. And now that it’s finally here, I’m not convinced that I’m as ready as I hoped. The ho...
Head for the Sun
From sunworshippers, shopaholics and spa devotees to honeymooners, families and sporty types, Tunisia has something for everyone , says Gilly Pickup. Besides spectacular scenery and highly chilled beaches - 700 miles of them along its Mediter...
“Expect the Unexpected”
So was the University of Essex Summer Ball described to Editor Anastasia Grabova when she was asked to attend A Twisted Tale, an end-of-uni ball with a difference. Do you ever wish you could gently travel back to the halcyon days and carefree environs of university? The pa...
More Than Just a Music Festival...
5 Great Reasons to Attend Latitude 2012 1 Close Encounters Located just a 90-minute car rideaway, in the Sunrise Coast of Southwold, Latitude is one of the closest festivals to Colchester. The family-friendly weekend won’t involve sitting in hot car...
Island Records
Mersea Island resident Juliet Doyle reports back from the nautical haven with some handy dates for the summer calendar. Mersea Island certainly pulled out all the stops for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, with the best e...
That Boy Racer Thrill
Tim Barnes-Clay test-drives the latest SEAT Leon. Harnessing 208 horses the motor is capable of 145 mph and will sprint from 0-62 in 6.9 seconds. It feels every bit as fast as the figures suggest and the gear-change paddles on the steering wheel help with that ‘boy-racer’ thrill...
Get Your Skates On
Colchester is blessed with a number of fantastic entertainment facilities for kids and families, but nobody realised how much it needed its very own ice-skating rink until Diamond Ice opened up earlier this year. This new rink was opened up by Betty Pullen and her four...
Drinking Tea and Toning Up: A Gym Like No Other
Sarah Slack visits the Colchester branch of Gymophobics to see why its 30 minute workouts are so popular amongst its female residents. The first thing to notice when you enter Gymophobics, a women-only gym in Albany Gardens, is i...
Colchester in Brief
The latest news, views and things to do from around the town, compiled by Sophie Cole. Howzat! Actor, comedian and writer Miles Jupp (The Thick of It, Rev) will take to the stage of Colchester Arts Ce...
Jamaica funk, that's what it is...
For years, Colchester has had a fascinating glimpse into other cultures from around the world through a variety of top-class restaurants, but Alisak's Caribbean Takeaway has recently introduced the town to a new lifestyle - the Jamaican way of life. Since ope...
Dancing with the Stars
Enjoy a fun day out with celebrity DJs, footballers and golfers at a special charity golf day followed by a glamorous black tie ball, organised by the Jude Brady Foundation charity to raise money for disadvantaged children. The golf day will take place on 25th May at the picture...
Convenient Car Repairs
A trip to the garage to get your car, motorbike or vehicle fixed can often turn into a horror story due to poor service. But Vehicle Repair Solutions, based in Rowhedge, goes out of its way to make sure customers feel delighted with the quality of care. The garage offers a wide ...
Island Records
Mersea Island resident Juliet Doyle reports back from the nautical haven with some handy dates for the summer calendar. I’m writing this having just enjoyed the final day of the seventh annual Mersea Beer Festival (a four-day celebration of the best...
The Outer Circle
Genevieve Yusuf picks out five dates for your diary, all within a two-hour drive from Colchester. Friday 11th – Saturday 26th May Norfolk & Norwich Festival Are ...
The Sunshine Island
Bracing pine-scented air, byzantine churches, stirring ancient ruins and pristine beaches - Cyprus, the Mediterranean’s third largest island, ticks all the right holiday boxes, says Gilly Pickup. The coastal resort of Paphos in the country’s southwest drips with history, so much so that U...
Hair Tips from the Expert
Benjamin Holbrook-Morris from Benjamin Charles Hair shares his tips for a good-hair summer. Following trends takes a lot of hard work, and keeping up with the latest colours takes its toll on your hair, so as we fast approach the long hot summer months, make sure you: ...
Spring Clean your Marketing
Rechenda Smith at Little Green Plane says March is a great time to spring clean your marketing using email. Content is king in marketing. If you are using poor data such as bought lists, sending emails to peo...
Colchester in Brief
The latest news, views, and things to do around the town, compiled by Amanda Stringfellow. Everyone has a Story Due to extremely popular demand, the unequivocal King of Puns, Tim Vine, is performing not once, but twice at the Colchester Arts Centre on Sunday 11th March. Be...
Can You Get Nifty with a Fifty?
St Helena Hospice is looking for businesses and community groups to join them this summer for the Birkett Long £50 Challenge. How much could you raise from your £50? Each organisation will be given a crisp £50 note (kindly donate...
A Hub of Activity this Summer for Kids
Summer holidays can be met with dread by parents as they face the prospect of having to dream up seven weeks' worth of entertainment for their little ones. Come the middle of July, parents all over the country will be faced with the same dilemmas and host of familiar quest...
Enjoy some Arabian nights (and days) in Dubai
If your New Year’s resolutions include enjoying a couple of action-packed weeks in the sun, a trip to Dubai could tick all the boxes for you in 2013, writes Claire Owen. Before my husba...
Learn all about Colchester's own avatars
We all walk past Colchester’s town hall on a regular basis, but have you ever really looked at the historical figures memorialised in its stone? Firstsite is holding a series of five monthly lectures given by eminent historians on these six figures which were carved by leading London ...
A leisurely lunch at Lifehouse is just lovely
We can all fall into the trap of eating lunch on the run when we’re busy or, worse still, wolfing down a sandwich when work means we can’t leave our desks. But, writes Claire Owen, there’s a much nicer option just a few miles away at the Lifehouse Spa and Hotel in Thorpe le S...
Colchester Physiotherapy: Why prevention is better than cure when running
In the first in a regular series of columns from Colchester Physiotherapy, director Alasdair Jones explains why it's important for runners to consider their joints when pounding the streets this spring. At this time of year, when...
Your chance to win a Bering watch with Carats Co Ltd!
Colchester Circle has teamed up with Carats Co Ltd to give you the chance to win a beautiful Bering ladies’ watch worth £179. This high tech, white ceramic watch comes with sapphire glass crystal and Swarovski elements and could be yours in our easy-to-enter competition....
Guest blog: Jajaja Books
Today we’ve got a guest blog from Genevieve Yusuf of Jajaja Books in Colchester, which recently enlisted the help of Elen Rivas on a language morning in London… After being a language tutor for years and studying Linguistics with...
Garage Band: A Review
The beauty of the Mercury Theatre’s studio is its versatility. After the brooding, monochrome one-man spectacle that was Sikes and Nancy, its latest offering Garage Band offers an eye-catching, ear-splitting couple of hours in the company of four middle-aged former punks. You’ve g...
Win a style consultation worth £150 for your mum this Mother’s Day
All mums deserve to be pampered on Mother’s Day – and thanks to an exclusive competition from the Colchester Circle, you could help your mum feel really special this year. Together with Thomasin Newton Image and Style, we’re giving away a free colour and style consultation wort...
Stay fit on the ski slopes
In the second of our regular columns from Colchester Physiotherapy, director Alasdair Jones gives us some advice about staying fit on the ski slopes... With the Easter holidays approaching, many of us will be planning to hit the slopes for skiing holidays. It...
Spring cleaning up your mailbox - and keeping it clean!
Today we’ve got a guest blog from Colchester web design company WDL, on the beauty of keeping your email inbox clean… In an ideal world, our email inboxes would be empty and we would all keep on top of th...
A day out without breaking the bank
Urban living has many advantages, writes Pete Townshend. With the buzz of the town on your doorstep there is always something going on: shops offering that retail fix; restaurants, bars and clubs satisfying every social need; regular and varied events open...
Delve into a world of dating don'ts!
Are you fed up with the dating scene? Sick of meeting people who don’t quite live up to their dating profiles? Reached the end of your tether with friends setting you up on disastrous blind dates? Never fear, our newest blogger Sarah Hedington is here to help!... ...
Zom-B fun at Waterstones
Zombie-loving youngsters will be pleased to hear that master of teen horror Darren Shan will be paying a visit to Waterstones in Colchester on Monday. Darren will be signing copies of his latest novel Zom-B City, the third book in the Zom-B series wh...
The Colchester Carnival needs you!
Organisers of the 2013 Colchester Carnival are looking for individuals, community groups and businesses to get involved in the event on July 20, which they hope will be bigger and better than ever before. Already planned is a traditional carnival procession...
And the location for the next Secret Vintage Fair is...
The secret is out! The next Secret Vintage Fair will be held at Colchester Castle on Saturday, March 30 - promising vintage, retro and craft loveliness over two floors. Organisers Lucy Craymer, Clare Armstrong and Janine Rudkins explain...
Charlotte's Everest challenge is in tribute to sister Liz
Charlotte Wilkin’s world was turned upside down in November when her beloved sister Liz died after a short battle with pancreatitis. Now, she has vowed to raise £10,000 for the critical care unit at Colchester General Hospital by climbing 20,0...
Bootcamp challenge week one!
A few weeks ago, we featured Brownes Fitness which has recently started offering bootcamp sessions in Colchester. Our editor Claire Owen has since taken up the challenge to see what can be achieved in three weeks of these rigorous sessions… ...
Fatal Attraction to compete against the crème de la crème of Eastern hairdressers
Colchester hair salon Fatal Attraction has beaten stiff competition from around the region to take part in a prestigious contest run by L’Oréal next month. The team from the Head Street hairdressers submitted two photographs to the L’Oréal Colour Trophy organisers, h...
Get your lymphatic system working for better health and wellbeing with Studio Figura
A new weight loss and body shaping studio, whose methods have helped thousands of people worldwide, has come to Colchester’s Crouch Street. The newly-opened Studio Figura is one of 500 branches across the world offering lym...
The Wivenhoe trail: it’s all about the journey
There is something quite lovely about getting out of town for the day, writes Pete Townshend. Jumping into the car and embarking on a journey to somewhere with a slower pace of life allows you to unwind, relax and give your mind a rest from the constant drone of the urban grind. Howe...
Ventilator paid for by public appeal saves tiny Freddie's life
He should not even be born yet but 35-day old Freddie Bacon is now home and well after becoming the first patient to benefit from a new ventilator at Colchester’s Neonatal Unit. Freddie, the only child of Michaela and Richard Bacon of Kelvedon, was put on t...
Core strength, core fitness, core stability, core blimey!
Alasdair Jones from Colchester Physiotherapy explains why our core strength is so important to our health and wellbeing. No doubt you have heard of the term ‘core strength’. It seems that half the fitness world has jumped o...
Bootcamp challenge week three!
Our editor Claire’s three week bootcamp challenge with Browne’s Fitness is at an end – how has she fared? I have to start by admitting that my three week bootcamp challenge actually ended up as five weeks, as work and social ac...
Does your relationship need an MOT?
Today we’ve got a guest blog from psychotherapist and counsellor Ian Argent about nipping relationship issues in the bud before they get too bad. ...
Style doesn’t have to be scary, says personal stylist and image consultant Thomasin Newton
When many of us think about the typical style consultant, we may recall the Trinny and Susannah types – the ones who will plonk us, horrified, in front of a full length mirror and make cutting remarks about our wobbly bits and the state of our underwear. ...
Bring on the wall!
A team of fitness fanatics from Colchester are preparing to complete their toughest challenge yet - an Ultra Marathon along the length of Hadrian's Wall. Michelle Calver, Louise Davis, Andy Drake and Venessa Moffat will be taking on the 69 mile route over two days...
Get back in the saddle, says Colchester Physio
With the Tour Series coming through Colchester on May 30, we hope to see a big increase in the uptake of cycling locally, writes Alasdair Jones from Colchester Physiotherapy. The fitness benefits of cycling are many – improved cardiovascular health which can help lower...
Amelie and Jessica give away their gorgeous locks for charity
Two caring little girls have raised hundreds of pounds for charity by having their long hair cut off at a Colchester salon. Five-year-old Amelie Barker and Jessica Pattinson, six, chose different good causes for the charity event. Amelie is raising m...
Complete wedding day worth £15,000 to be won with Heath House 1898
No matter how often you say that your wedding will be small and simple, inevitably, the price always sky-rockets. Ceremony, reception venue, bridal gown, suits, flowers, food, drink, photographs...unless you only have three family members, two friends and a colleague, you are going to have to seri...