Rumours are spreading that villages in the UK county of Essex named High Easter and Good Easter have been forced to change their names because they may offend people “of other faiths”.
The rumours are tracing back to an article written in March 2016 on website SouthendNewsNetwork.com which also claims the village names will be changed from January 2017 following a “record number of complaints”.
However the rumours appear totally false. This is largely down to the fact that SouthendNewsNetwork is a spoof website by its own admission. On its ‘About Us’ page the site reads –
Southend News Network was originally started in October 2015 with no real aims or objectives in mind other than to add a satirical/spoof-like touch to issues that people are passionate about in Southend On Sea.
However the article has managed to fool many outlets, including many blogs and far right extremist group Britain First who published the story on their million+ strong Facebook page.
Additionally there have been no reputable media stories regarding any potential name change regarding these Essex villages so we can safely discount these rumours as just many online viewers misinterpreting a spoof article as genuine.