News in Thurrock

BASILDON Hospital is to get a redesign of its front entrance, offering visitors and staff more facilities.

They will include a Costa Coffee, M&S Simply Food and WHSmith, which will deliver the first onsite Post Office in an Essex hospital.

VISITORS to Lakeside Shopping Centre at the weekend were offered free training to help them save someone's life.

In support of international 'Restart a Heart Day' on Saturday, 16 October, pre-hospital care doctors, critical care paramedics and volunteers from Essex & Herts Air Ambulance (EHAAT) were at the central atrium on the lower mall and delivered free CPR and defibrillation demonstrations and training to over 300 members of the public.

EAST Thurrock United will be hoping to bounce back after two successive heavy away defats when they entertain Bishops Stortford in the Isthmian Premier on Tuesday evening at Rookery Hill.

The Rocks are likely to come up against three popular former East Thurrock players as the visitors' squad is set to contain goalkeeper Jack Giddens, midfielder Ben Marlow and striker Frankie Merrifield who have all worn the amber shirts with distinction in recent seasons.

A REPORT on gang crime has shown Thurrock has the second highest rate of violent crime against young people in Essex.

The in-depth report was due to be discussed by Thurrock Council's hidden and extreme harms prevention committee on Thursday (21 October) but the meeting has been postponed, along with all other scheduled meetings this week, as a mark of respect following the killing of Southend MP Sir David Amess.

RESIDENTS in Thurrock will get the chance to meet local council workers and representatives of other organisations and ask questions about a wide range of issues thanks to a community initiative hosted by Morrisons store in Grays.

Starting tomorrow (Tuesday, 19 October) the store's cafe will host 'Community Tuesdays'.

THURROCK MP Jackie-Doyle Price was visibly emotional this afternoon as she took part in a commemorative service for a local organisation in Grays just 48 hours after the murder of her close friend and fellow South Essex MP Sir David Amess.

The occasion was the 75th anniversary of Grays Thurrock RAF Association branch at its club on Southend Road.

GUESTS were roused by an alarm at a Thurrock hotel in the early hours of today (Sunday, 17 October) and evacuated from the building.

However, it proved that the drama at tge Lakeside Travelodge just after 6am was sparked not by a fire, but a deodorant spray!

A SERIES of shows with young people in mind are about to take place at Thurrock's Thameside Theatre.

On Sunday, 24 October Dreams Theatre School will be back on the Thameside stage to present Peter Pan. You can book tickets for the show, which starts at 3pm, via this link.

ONE of Thurrock's heritage groups, which is slowly coming around to 'business as normal' after the pandemic is hoping it may be able to win some more financial support from a local company, organisation or donor.

The Bata Heritage Centre in East Tilbury celebrates the decades of BATA industry in the local community and the creation of the modern day village.

THREE late goals ensured an emphatic victory for the Robins as East Thurrock United succumbed to a second heavy defeat in five days.

The Rocks were looking to bounce back from Tuesday's 3-0 Isthmian Premier defeat at Potters Bar but found themselves a goal down at the War Memorial Sports ground after just seven minutes when Daniel Hector scored for the hosts.