A 100-year-old convent's days are numbered after work started on a replacement building. The United Sisters of Mercy have used St Michael's Convent in Clacton since it was founded in 1908.

Work started this week on a new building and care home for 30 residents and staff at the same Marine Parade site.

There will also be a community hall and new chapel. A turf cutting ceremony took place yesterday.

The new building is expected to open in late summer 2011 with the demolition and landscaping work completed by February 2012.

From the Clacton Gazette