AS PART of her marathon question and answer session last week, portfolio holder, Lynn Worrall brought up the question of the role of Thurrock in the Olympics in 2012.
Cllr Worrall said: “One of my greatest concerns since taking this portfolio on in May has been that the Olympics will pass this borough by.
“These fears were compounded when I attended an Olympics meeting at Essex County Council. It was the first time anyone from Thurrock had attended in two years.”
Cllr Worrall did stress the role of the Thurrock Schools Sports Partnership who have a number of plans and initiatives relating to the Olympics including each school “partnered” with a participating country.
Cllr Worrall said: “There are organisations in the borough that are heavily involved. The Port of Tilbury, many of the hotels and other companies. I am sure that a nation will be using Thurrock Harriers track.
“But we, as a council seem to be letting the greatest sporting event of our lifetime, which is on our doorstep, simply pass us by. I, for one, will not allow that to happen.”
The portfolio holder at that time, cllr Joy Redsell did not respond in the chamber to the observations made by councillor Worrall.
Well done Cllr Worrall, setting the record of the previous administration straight! they did nothing for the games in just under 6 months you have done more than what they have done in two years!
Im afraid you are wrong regarding Cllr Worrall.
Over the past two years officers in the Sports and Leisure Team have been working with local organisations, sportessex, Essex County Council and Sport England to develop Thurrock’s own action plan.
The Thurrock Schools Sports Partnership has an exciting programme of Olympic Themed events.
In addition, the library service, the heritage service, the sports and leisure service and community development worked together to develop a DVD entitled ‘Passing the Baton’ which celebrates the achievements of Thurrock athletes past and present and encourages young people to see sport as an ideal vehicle for realising self-worth and raising aspiration.
The Olympics 2012 has also given rise to a series of initiatives under the
banner of 1000 Days to Go which was initially a community grants programme aimed at bringing people from diverse communities together by embracing the values and cultural dimension of the 2012 games.
This work started under the Conservative administration and is continues under the current BNP supported Labour administration.
Im afraid Grays88 that you are wrong to say nothing has been done in the past two years. Lots has been happening behind the scenes.
I also think it is wrong for a councillor to claim that nothing has happened in two years and try and claim credit for the hard work of council officers that started years ago.
Hold fire a minute, TBC have no money so how the hell can they contribute to the Olympics in 2012, they are even talking about closing down the three sporst facillities (Impulse) that we have in the borough.
Thurrock will become the waste land of Essex under TBC
Come to think of it UK plc is in debt and wants to make cuts to the tune of £6.2 billion but we are spending in excess of £9 billion on two weeks of sport, go figure!!!
Dave Peterson i have to correct you.
At the council meeting Cllr Worrall spoke about the work that has been done by the Sports Development team at Thurrock Council. She went on to talk about the 1000 days to go projects including the events, street parties and planting that has been done in Thurrock.
She spoke about the volunteers in Thurrock and promoted the free courses that are available to Thurrock residents who want the opportunity to volunteer at the olympics. She spoke about the good work of Danny Crates who is a great ambassador for Thurrock.
Cllr Worrall talked about all of the things Thurrock has to offer people who dont have every day tickets to the games. Visiting our historic forts, Davey Down, the new royal opera house and shopping at Lakeside. All this is money bieng spent in Thurrock.
What she did was tell the chamber that for 2 years there have been meetings that other local councils have attended and Thurrocks tory representative Joy Redsell has not bothered to turn up.
The got to be in in to win it was mentioned when cllr worrall was telling the chamber that there are 50,000 places for outer london school children to attend the games but to have a chance of winning they have to be part of the schools programme to have a chance of winning tickets to the games.
Thurrock will have a much better chance of getting outside funding if we are at the meetings where the games are on the agenda. At least Cllr Worrall went to the meeting to find out what is going to be available to hold events.