RESIDENTS in Grays once again paid tribute to the heroes of the NHS and other carers and the emergency services as the sound of clapping rang out across the borough this evening (Thursday, 21 May).

Against a background of the sound of ships' horns blowing in the Port of Tilbury, which cascaded across the borough, people turned out once more in their gardens and into the streets to say thank-you.

It was a particularly poignant evening for members of the region's ambulance service who paid tribute to one of their own, Neil Ruch [.l} who died this week after a lengthy battle against Covid-19. A separate report [L]https://thurrock.nub.news/n/pipes-lament-the-loss-of-paramedic-in-big-turnout-at-hospital [L+]covers the tribute to him at Basildon & Thurrock Hospital.

Thurrock Nub News called in at Morrisons in Grays, a store that has won particular praise for the way it has supported the local emergency services – especially the firefighters and ambulance workers who are based not too far away just off Hogg Lane. The store was floodlit blue as dark descended this evening.

And as a symbolic gesture, pictures were shared on social media of Grays's Parish Church, St Peter & St Paul's which has also been lit up in blue as a tribute to the NHS.

Rev Darren Barlow said: "We lit the church in blue to express our thanks to all NHS, Carers and other key workers."

As usual on Thursdays, there were many street tributes across the borough, typified by this one in Duke's Avenue, Grays, which is also close to the Grays Ambulance station.