A DROP-IN meeting for veterans, serving personnel and their families will be held on Tuesday, July 15 at The Beehive in Grays.
The event between 10am and 12.30pm at the West Street centre will see several Thurrock Council and veteran support organisations available to speak to visitors about any concerns they may have.
In particular organisers want to hear about people’s experiences of accessing support in Thurrock.
After the drop-in, organisations taking part will meet to consider what could be improved by working closer together to support the veterans and armed service community in the future.
Cllr Richard Speight, portfolio holder for communities, said: “The number of veterans leaving the armed forces will increase in coming years.
“Thurrock Council has worked closely with our partners to think carefully about how we recognise and support those who have served.
“Partners helped to shape the Veterans’ Charter in 2012, and the council supported a Community Covenant with Essex later that year.
“We always want to engage with veterans and serving personnel to let them know what we can do to provide appropriate and co-ordinated support.”
He added: “I am grateful to all those organisations who have already committed to coming to support this event – including SSAFA and the Thurrock branch of the Burma Star Association.”
Organisations supporting the event will be able to send two delegates – one to staff the drop-in and one for the series of talks later.
The afternoon session will hear presentations on the Veterans Charter, Community Covenant and consider areas of future joint working.
The drop-in session is open to all and refreshments will be served. Any organisation wanting to find out more or register to attend should contact [email protected]
The picture of Cllr Charles Curtis, then Mayor of Thurrock, signing the Council’s Veterans Charter gives the impression he wholeheartedly supports the Charter and approves its’ aims. In fact he does not support the Charter and is on record saying; “Why should they [ex-service personnel] be given special treatment and expect to be treated differently. They knew what they were letting themselves in for when they volunteered, it is part of the job. I am more concerned with the plight of a single mum with 3 kids living on the top floor of a block of flats”? He seeks to give his comments credence,that as an ex-soldier he knew what he was getting into and accepted it. What he omits to say is that his military service was compulsory 2 years National Service, extended considerably due to the fact that he regularly went AWOL, i.e. he was an “absentee soldier”. Perhaps he also believes those volunteers who responded to the WW1 appeal “Your Country Needs You” also “knew what they were getting into” so why all the fuss commemorating their sacrifices. Cllr Curtis, when you attend the “Remembrance Day” service at the Ockendon War Memorial are you there because you genuinely care or is it just another opportunity to publicly promote your image and ambitions as a Councillor?