News in Thurrock

AS this week brought the return of International Nurses' Day (12 May), we caught up with one of Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust's 31 new specialist intensive care nurses from India, who is helping treat the sickest patients in critical care.

Ditty John, a staff nurse in critical care, said: "The Trust has been really supportive of our team, and we are settling in well in our new working environment. Our teachers prepared us amazingly for the hurdle of our exams. We are all so enthusiastic and it's been great working in critical care and caring for our patients."

ANOTHER Thurrock Soup event has highlighted the innovation and ambition in the borough.

Thurrock Soup Group is an opportunity for people with bright ideas for business to get together and share their thoughts - with a cash prize for the idea which participants vote is the best on the night.

NEW plans have been submitted to build homes on a rural site on the edge of the Thurrock boundary, bordering on Basildon.

The site, Greenwise Nurseries on Vange Park Road close to the Five Bells roundabout over the A13 has seen several applications to Thurrock Council for a number of schemes over recent years.

THURROCK hosted a special event today (Friday, 9 July) and raised the Remembering Srebrenica flag at the civic offices in Grays to observe Srebrenica Memorial Week.

Cllr James Halden, The Deputy Mayor of Thurrock and Cllr Deborah Huelin, Cabinet Member for Adults and Communities, joined Bosnian residents and representatives of local Muslim faith groups and South Essex Rape and Incest Crises Centre (SERICC) to commemorate the week.

THE first weekend of July saw more than 800 people in Thurrock receive their Covid jab from a walk-in clinic.

Thurrock Health Centre on the High Street in Grays and Chadwell St Mary Health Centre offered vaccinations to anyone walking in who needed them. 600 vacinations took place in Grays and 250 in Chadwell.

THURROCK residents have been told that the A13 road widening project is on course to be completed by the end of the year.

The news came ahead of another significant weekend road closure which will see the A13 closed between the Manorway and the Orsett Cock roundabout – the latest in dozens of closures over the past two years that have often blighted the lives of local residents – particularly in villages including Horndon on the Hill which has had to bear the brunt of 'rat run traffic' and HGVs diverting through unsuitable roads.

A MAN from Tilbury has been charged in connection with a number of burglaries, including one that took place in East Tilbury in the early hours of Wednesday.

Denver Clift, 35, of Brennan Road, Tilbury, was arrested yesterday, Wednesday 7 July.

THE fun fair is in town in Corringham and will be staying for more than a week.

The family-run event will feature a variety of rides and stall open to visitors to the community open space on Springhouse Road.

CIVIC dignitaries including East Thurrock MP Stephen Metcalfe are due to take part in a ceremony tomorrow (Friday, 9 July) to mark the opening of a new facility for dementia sufferers in the borough.

The opening of the Alzheimer's Memory garden at Thurrock Community Hospital will take place around noon.

AN initiative providing safe accommodation for care leavers and other vulnerable young people in Thurrock has been shortlisted as a finalist for 'Best Social Housing Initiative' in The Municipal Journal (MJ) Local Government Achievement Awards 2021.

The Head Start Housing project run jointly by Thurrock Council's children's services and housing teams offers safe, suitable and affordable accommodation to care leavers and vulnerable young people in the borough. It aims to enable those benefiting from the project to take control of their lives and continue with education, employment or training.