THE SECOND Grays Street Festival is set for this weekend.
It is on this Saturday from 12-4pm in Grays High Street and it is all free of charge.
This is being organised by Thurrock International Celebration of Culture.
A spokesperson said: “There is going to be the World’s Smallest Theatre from The Grand Theatre of Lemmings, Golden Voices, Creative Blast and Thurrock Asian Association dance troupe.
You can find out more here http://www.ticculture.co.uk/index.php/about/ticc_2014
I remember a time when Thurrock used to have an annual carnival that ended at the playing fields at Blackshots next to the swimming pool with a funfair that used to be there for a week during summer, giving the kids something to do and the parents a break. It used to be supported by local businesses and charities and local groups. Who knows why it ended?
We now have what I have heard being referred to as a celebration of Thurrock’s diversity for an afternoon in Grays High Street which seems little more than a photo op for the yet to be seen successful college.
This is apparently progress for what used to quite a vibrant town, with a decent market and decent shops.
Is there anyone out there from the old Grays town, lets say within the last twenty or so years that feels enriched by the changes that have taken place in Grays, or indeed Thurrock as a whole. I’ve yet to find one. We’ve had takeaways and restaurants for years that didn’t just serve chips and burgers or fish and chips.
What we appear to have received over the last decade or so is simply a population interested only in it’s own culture, emboldened by the belief that the political system and national and local media will wholeheartedly support them and their traditions and culture in favour of the old traditions and culture of the town.
I wish that they could revive the old carnival and fairground and bring back a little bit of what older people and their current children used to enjoy.