SOME PEOPLE just have a sense of style and a sense of occasion. On Thursday afternoon, former naval officer, Bernie Parsons decided to celebrate his wife Heather's last day at Debenhams. So, the Chadwell St Mary man paraded at 1600 hours outside the Intu Lakeside store and then marched right into the lingerie section (as you do).
FOR those of you lucky enough to be visited by Dave the Chippy once a week you will have noticed that Owner Vernon Clinch has come out of retirement and is frying again tonight. You may have noticed he's also turned pink. This is because he is attempting to raise money for Pancreatic Cancer. At the end of the month he will shave his head and hopefully raise £1000.
ACCOMPANIED by a steel band and dancers, the arrival of the parade will herald the start of Grays Street Festival when a dozen street entertainers will be in Grays High Street and Grays Shopping Centre causing hilarity and havoc amongst market-goers. Entrance is free to the festival which will run from 3pm to 5.30pm. The street entertainers are all Essex based professionals and will make an interesting spectacle of music, comedy and participation.
AVELEY Village Community Forum will be holding its AGM on Tuesday 23rd July at 7.30pm at the Aveley Youth & Community Centre. This meeting is open to anyone and we would invite our local residents to join us.
THE FIRST residents move in to a new type of housing next week (26 June), geared towards helping older people remain independent for as long as possible. Elizabeth Gardens in Long Lane, Grays, has 18 one-bedroom and 47 two-bedroom apartments. It has a restaurant, hair and beauty salon, laundry, activity room and landscaped gardens, and all the flats are designed to enable people to maintain their independence well into old age.
IF YOU would like to be involved please come along to our next meeting on Tuesday 25th June at 7pm in Corringham Village Hall to join the Residents and Traders Association of Corringham.
Over the next month or two RATA will be en- deavouring to bring some colour to the Town Centre with flowers. If there are any keen gardeners out there who have some spare plants they would like to donate to RATA, in order to help, then please call us on 07938 518576 or email [email protected]
LEADING the cast will be the lovely Natalie Cassidy who we all know as Sonja Jackson in BBC1’s EastEnders and more recently in BBC1’s Dancing on Ice. Natalie will play the Fairy in this year’s Pantomime and will be joined by the return of West End star Wain Douglas as our Dame who has been a favourite with the audience at the Thameside Panto in recent years.
NGAGE, the Community Organisation and Volunteer Centre for Thurrock has launched a new pilot project called ‘VCLocal’. The project aims to launch smaller satellite volunteer centres across Thurrock in order to encourage more local people and organisations to access volunteering opportunities within the local area.
FIRST THEY appeared in Purfleet, then another just over the border on Pea Lane, Upminster and now a mass of waste has been dumped in Stanford-le-Hope. The stinking stretch of waste is over 100 metres long and is in a storage yard near to Rookery corner in Stanford-le-Hope.
CHILDREN from six Corringham primary schools took part in the Corringham Junior School Choir Competition at the Springhouse Club on Wednesday 12th June 2013. The event, organised by the Rotary Club of Corringham Thameside required each school choir to sing two songs of their own choosing which were judged on the following criteria, choice of songs, quality of performance, teamwork, and the enjoyment displayed by the children in the choir.
THE months of rehearsals that go into a Gang Show are tiring and more than enough work for most but the Gang at Thurrock Gang Show had more work to do after their successful 2013 show came to an end.They decided to put together an entry for the Bright Sparks Project, a competition by The Scout Association which is looking for the hidden talent within Scouting. The grand prize is the opportunity to work with leading songwriters, artists, producers and more to produce a music album, single and music video which will be released on sale.
ALL of 818 years ago on 11 June Henry de Grey, a Norman knight, acquired the Parish of Thurrock from King Richard the Lion Heart. On Tuesday this year Thurrock Council marked the first step in the creation of a town named Grays with a Thurrock Heritage Plaque.
FOR their June meeting, several Bulphan WI members, along with six of the Brentwood Belle’s WI took a trip out to New Hall Vineyards in Purleigh, which has been producing wine since 1969 and is the largest in East Anglia (second largest in England).
A WORLD War II veteran from Chadwell St Mary has become the first-ever recipient of PETA's Compassionate Dad Award for a lifetime of encouraging kindness and empathy for animals. Sidney Pledger, who turns 90 in October and was born in Ireton Place in Grays, was nominated by daughter Sharen for his progressive views and always helping animals in need, having rescued many homeless, sick and injured animals over the course of his life.
THE draw raised £1,700 for the hospice which cares for children from across Essex who have a life-limiting condition and was organised by Project Administrator Sharon Palmer, aged 52, from Jacobs Ltd who said, "The raffle was a great success and I want to say thank you to all our employees for buying a ticket. I realise that we raised a small amount in comparison how much Little Havens needs to keep running but if everybody locally did there bit then the hospice could do even more to support local families. In today’s busy and hectic lifestyle it's easy to forget how important it is to look after others and however much or little we give, we can all help."
