News in Thurrock

THURROCK Nub News offers our readers the opportunity to tell their story via our Nub It1 button. You can contribute items of news, letters, details of events - or just opinion.

Via the button we have recieved this story from a reader - who is identified to us but who asks for anonymity. We have not refered this to Thurrock Council because there is no point. They don't answer , they don't respond and more often than not they don't even contact the people who are struggling. Sometimes we get the courtesy of a standard response: 'We will not discuss individual cases'.

It has been some time since my last show but this one is one I have been looking forward to for a long time and was well worth the wait.

Priscilla Queen of the Desert, an adaption of the 1994 Oscar winning film, is on at the Cliffs Pavilion until Saturday, 29 February. More details and booking via the red button below.

THURROCK Nub News is rapidly approaching the 200,000 page views mark and is on course to smash through it by the end of the month.

It's a news service that focuses on the remarkable communities that make up our wide and varied borough, from hyper local news about community organisations and groups, features on schools and the great work going on in our classrooms and coverage of our local sporting organisations – to the big breaking stories that frequently put Thurrock in the vanguard of national news media.

The Woman in Black

WHAT a performance! This week's show at Southend's Palace Theatre has been thrilling audiences for 30 years and you can certainly see why.

WE are fast approaching yet another election, Thurrock Local Elections which are due to take place in May which means on the lead up to election day for a period of time Thurrock Council will enter into Purdah for a period of time.

As a Resident and local volunteer in Thurrock, it also feels that Thurrock Council use Purdah as an excuse to switch off from issues arising throughout Purdah and some Council Officers appear to use this time at work as a kind of holiday from addressing issues.

A VERY wet and windy evening in Southend might not seem the place to be to witness something truly beautiful, but those of us who braved the elements to witness the first night of Once at Southend Cliffs Pavilion were rewarded in the best possible way.

I have to confess this musical had passed me by unnoticed, despite being a Tony-winning triumph on Broadway and enjoying a successful run in the West End.

AFTER a short, painful period of reflection, the Labour Party has a crucial decision to make over the leadership and direction that we will take now, following the worst defeat since 1931. The new leader faces an unenviable task.

He or she must rebuild the Party, be an effective Leader of the Opposition and a credible Prime Minister-in-waiting. All this is at a time when the once rock-solid, dependable core vote of the Party has collapsed, and the current Prime Minister is enjoying a majority not seen since the days of Blair and Thatcher.

AS a life-long Labour supporter, member, activist, voter and councillor, it hurts that we have fought yet another election and suffered yet another defeat.

This is our fourth election defeat in a row and equals the ignominious total of elections lost between 1979 – 1992. In simple mathematical terms, the task is simple: to move from our current total of 202 seats to the number needed for a simple majority - currently 326. A gain of 124 should be eminently doable.

IT might have been second time around for me, but this week's play at the Palace Theatre, Southend, was nevertheless a very engaging experience.

Agatha Christie's thriller returned to the Palace this week and I couldn't resist a second visit to the play performed by the Middle Ground Theatre Company and a very recognisable cast.

I WAS recently contacted by the Chairman of Thurrock Independents group on Thurrock Council and he posed some questions that he intended to send to all of the candidates.

This was just prior to the Hustings at St Peter & St Paul's Church and because of that I replied to him that I wouldn't answer them until after the event.