Also - I just found this about Farnborough radar... A little out of date - but the information
http://flyontrack.co.uk/wp-content/u...1/EGLFLARS.pdf is still pretty accurate.
Remember that Southend now has a class D zone around it, and contact them well before getting close to the boundary. They are still very much a GA friendly airfield though, never been badly received there, ATC have always been really nice and the landing fees were still cheaper than Shoreham (Brighton) but you get to land after an Easyjet which is a bit different. Could be worth giving them a call ahead though to know if they're expecting a lot of commercial traffic during the time that you're thinking of arriving (so as to miss the rush!)
Hope this helps.
Alex