News in Thurrock

AFTER a year's absence, the Hardie Park Community Christmas Day meal in Stanford-le-Hope is about to make a comeback.

Volunteers are now being sought to join those who will help put the special festive event together, as the Friends of Hardie Park's Rob Groves explains: "After a year off we've decided to organise our lovely Christmas Day meal for some of Thurrock's loneliest residents again.

FIREFIGHTERS were called to an industrial building in Romford Road, Aveley, this morning where a storage unit was ablaze.

Grays fire station watch manager Lee Hollingworth said: "We estimate the fire had been burning for around four or five hours before it was discovered, so by the time we arrived it had almost starved itself of oxygen and burned itself out.

MEMBERS of the cast of Thurrock's annual pantomime - which begins this Friday (29 November) were out and about in Grays today (Tuesday) promoting the show.

Led by 'Dame' Luke Coldham, the cast from Dick Whittington were in Morrisons where they drew laughter from shoppers and staff alike.

THE Port of Tilbury has scooped the inaugural National Infrastructure Planning Association Award for "Best Project" with its plans to create the new Tilbury2 port.

The judges praised the team behind the Development Consent Order Process (DCO) dealing with the new port, which is currently under construction and due to open in 2020.

MORE than one in four women in Thurrock are failing to take part in smear testing – a figure that has been flagged up by NHS England and NHS Improvement in the East of England.

Using the iconic celebrity Jade Goody to catch public attention, the groups say ten years after her death from cervical cancer thousands of women in the eastern region are missing smear tests.

YOUNG people are being invited to shine a light on their future and a journey to a career in the creative industries with the National College Creative Industries in Purfleet.

The college will host open evenings on Monday 2 and Tuesday 3 December, from 4pm to 6pm.

WITH fears that Brexit will bring social unrest, climate change will result in environmental disasters and cyber-attacks capable of crippling entire towns, health authorities in Essex are reviewing their emergency response plans.

Board papers published ahead of a Thurrock Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) meeting show that health professionals will discuss a plan that outlines their response in the event of a major traffic incident, a cyber-attack or even a nuclear disaster.

MAGISTRATES were left with little alternative but to remand an Albanian man in custody after he appeared in court but could only produce a litany of false information.

He was brought before the bench manacled to a security guard after being charged after officers found drugs in a car they had stopped and searched in Basildon.

A 36-year-old man from Purfleet has been arrested at a property in Dalston, East London, on suspicion of manslaughter, conspiracy to traffic people and conspiracy to assist unlawful immigration, in connection with the Essex police probe into the deaths of 39 Vietnamese nationals in a lorry trailer found in West Thurrock on 23 October.

The arrest took place on Monday 25 November.

THREE Thurrock schools have won top honours at a national awards ceremony, thanks to their collaborative work with Thurrock Council to promote sustainable travel.

St Clere's School in Stanford-le-Hope was presented with the Regional Secondary School of the Year for Sustainable Travel and Best Thurrock Secondary for Sustainable Travel awards at the Modeshift STARS National School Travel Awards East of England regional awards ceremony.