LOVERS of nostalgia, and cinema organ fans in particular, are being asked to support a call to ensure a piece of Thurrock's history is brought back to life - despite the ravages of time, vandals and water.

The Compton cinema organ at the State Cinema in Grays is a reminder of decades past - and it is much-loved and cherished by many people who have memories of the iconic building.

Sadly, in company with ,any parts of the Grade-II listed building, the organ has suffered badly in the years that the cinema has been shut.

However, plans are now afoot to renovate the building and turn it into a hotel and planning applications have been submitted to Thurrock Council.

And as part of those plans, it is hoped the organ could be brought back to life.

Over the past couple of decades Peter Hammond, Managing director of pipe organ builders and restorers Taylor-Hammond Associates Ltd, has become a noted campaigner championing restoration of the building - and, in particular, its prized organ.

Peter believes public comment on the planning applications may influence the building's owners - and Thurrock Council.

Peter says: "The State has a Compton cinema organ. It's a pipe organ and has an illuminated console which used to rise up from the orchestra pit, plus lots of organ pipes, percussion and sound effects under the stage.

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"The sound came through large wooden louvres called swell shutters and filled the auditorium with glorious sound.

"Back in 2011 poor security enabled metal thieves to break in and steal a lot of the pipes. Whilst this was a very bad criminal act and wanton destruction of the instrument, these pipes could have been replaced as enough genuine Compton cinema organ pipework still exists around the country.

"However, subsequently in 2019 during Wetherspoon's ownership, more metal thieves ripped out live copper water mains pipes in the wings and, as no one was in there for a week or so at the time, the water flooded the whole orchestra pit, understage pipe chambers and blower room to a height of about 7ft.

"Everything down there was flooded. This ruined almost all of the mechanisms and components that were there.

"Also in 2019 Wetherspoons asked my company to remove the organ console for safe keeping before overhead work was done on the ceiling.

"This we did, but soon after Covid struck and as we know, Wetherspoons then decided to sell instead of continuing with work. We placed the console and glass sides in our safe storage, where they still are today. We figured they are much safer there than returned to the State at present. The current owner and council know this.

"Since taking the console however we have also acquired the entire works (pipes, chests, percussion etc) from the former Regal Old Kent Road. This organ had been installed at a venue in Windsor for decades but had to come out a few years back. The Regal organ was exactly the same as the Grays organ. And I mean exactly the same as far as the pipes and sound-producing works were concerned.

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"So we now have the State's own console plus all the components to rebuild the State organ exactly as it was when new.

"We would therefore like to impress this upon the council and will strongly request that the State's organ is fully rebuilt to playable condition as a part of any refurbishment project for the building.

Please can I ask that if you too feel this should be done, you also submit comments to this effect on the council website planning portal under this application."

Supporters of the idea are asked to register their views on the planning applications' comment pages - which can be found here and here.