On March 11^th we held this year’s Technology Competition. 9 schools entered representing 5 schools in the borough. On the day we had 8 teams.  Hathaway x 1, Mossbourne Fobbing x 2, St Cleres x 3, Thames Park x 2 and Harris CH (sadly were unable to make it on the day)

The results for the Young Photographer competition of 2025 are now available.

On the 8^th of March, two of our schools, Hathaway and Mossbourne Port Side, were represented at the Youth Debate Cluster Finals which were held in Norwich.  Both schools thoroughly enjoyed the experience and are keen to take part again next year which is very encouraging to hear.

The team from Mossbourne Port Side did particularly well, coming second out of the three in the Intermediate section.  It should be acknowledged that Hathaway and Mossbourne Port Side were the only two ‘non-independent’ schools represented.

The Club would like to thank all the young Artists for entering this year’s competition. The quality of the work was exceptional. Everyone will have their work returned to them along with a well-earned certificate.

Thank heavens for local heroes

Night one of the sleigh routes and despite the best planning the music player on the sleigh packed up - no more Jingle Bells! However a hasty visit to Halfords and an emergency call to a local mechanic who removed the old unit fitted and tested the new one and hey presto our Jingle Bells have been restored and even louder and better than before.

So a big shout out to Phil Wilkins and Lewis Maynard of Wilkins and Maynard in Billericay who dropped everything to help us out and refused to take anything for their troubles, it goes to show there really are Local Heroe.

On 25th November, Ken Wiffen from Grays was presented with a Rotary Service Recognition Award for decades of helping over 13 charities raise over £50,000 with his gardening skills.

Ken has now hung up his gardening gloves, but Club President Andrew and Rotarian Mark Jones made a surprise visit to his home.

Picture shows Ken receiving his Rotary Award from our President Andrew.

When you join Rotary, you will enjoy a supportive environment to share your skills, connect with like-minded people and make change happen.

Despite there only being a handful of cases left in the world, continued campaigning, health worker training and vaccination programmes are essential to stop the disease returning and ensuring the world is certified polio-free. Over 400 million children still have to receive their polio vaccinations by the GPEI partners multiple times every single year in more than 50 countries. Rotary members continue to be key players in many aspects of the polio programme including on the ground in a number of countries as well as fundraising and advocacy. Failure to eradicate polio could result in as many as 200,000 new cases worldwide every year within a decade.

The subject that the entrants had to write upon was “Rebuilding”. The competition was fierce, and of all the entries were of a high standard. The majority of the entries received were submitted via a school, but we did receive two private entries who were encouraged to enter by Woodside Academy staff. 

 

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Junior, (10 years old and under category) was from Woodside Academy called Myra Ali who the judge considered that her work to be well written and consistent in the power of her argument. The winner of the Intermediate (11 to 13 years old category) was a student from Hathaway Academy called Nifemi Alawiye who the judge considered her prose entry to be excellent and that if fully met the criteria.

 
Congratulations to both the winners, who will receive their prizes at our prize presentations in due course and will be representing Thurrock at the next stage of the national competition.

You can contact us via this website  https://www.graysthurrockrotary.org.uk/  or by direct messaging us through of Facebook Page @Grays.Thurrock.Rotary 

Rotary has been working to eradicate polio for more than 35 years, our goal of ridding the world of this disease is closer than ever.

As a founding partner of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, we've reduced polio cases by 99.9 percent since our first project to vaccinate children in the Philippines in 1979.

Rotary members have contributed more than $2.1 billion and countless volunteer hours to protect nearly 3 billion children in 122 countries from this paralyzing disease. Rotary’s advocacy efforts have played a role in decisions by governments to contribute more than $10 billion to the effort.

Today, polio remains endemic only in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But it’s crucial to continue working to keep other countries polio-free. If all eradication efforts stopped today, within 10 years, polio could paralyze as many as 200,000 children each year.

Here our President and Rotarians Adrian Alsop and Bob Paterson are seen planting more Crocus bulbs as part of this vital initiative.

Spring each year, sees a beautiful purple carpet of crocus blooming in many communities across Great Britain and Ireland thanks to the Purple Crocus Corm planting to raise awareness of the Rotary fight for a polio free world.

Planting the purple crocus corms by Rotary and many community groups is a great way of getting active, having fun and talking to lots of different people about the need to eradicate the life threatening and disabling polio virus.

Grays Rotary Club today presented cheques totalling £10,700 to 5 chosen charities from its Christmas street & supermarket collections - Lauren Eagle-Allen representing Little Havens Childrens Hospice, Janice Gilroy representing Barnardo’s & John Brewer Head of Treetops School each received a cheque for £2,600. Each expressed their grateful thanks to the club.  Unfortunately Great Ormond Street Childrens Hospital and NSPCC were unrepresented but will respectively be receiving a cheque for £2,600 and £300 by post.

After lunch at Orsett Hall, the club thanked representatives from the local superstores Asda (Kim Morgan), Sainsburys (Will Doyle) & Tesco (Angela Mitchell) for their support and attendance together with Rotarian Steve Payne for building its new sleigh. 

Although unable to join the lunch, grateful thanks were also offered to Grayers Graphics for help with the sleigh paintwork and Smiths Orchard Garden Centre for their assistance in counting & banking the cash collected.

[Group photo left to right is Angela Mitchell, Lauren Eagle-Allen, Janice Gilroy, Adrian Alsop, Steve Payne, Kim Morgan, John Brewer, Anthony Hatton (Treetops Free School Head) and Will Doyle]

Following a successful membership information evening in late November, the first of its new members Steve Quigley was inducted last week with more expected to follow.

2022 has begun for the Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock with a notable accolade for one of its established members.

And the club presented its highest award, the Paul Harris Fellowship (named after the founder of the Rotary movement), to Rotarian Steve Payne for outstanding service to the club and the local community.

Steve single-handedly took up the challenge of building the club a new Christmas sleigh which performed flawlessly for Santa in December and is set to bring joy to borough children and help raise funds for great causes for many years to come.

Visit our Youth Pages for details of the 2021-22 Competitions

It was the decade of strikes, electricity shortages and piles of rotting rubbish on the street.

There was more to the 1970s, such as music, fashion and long, hot summers.

But the industrial unrest had a huge impact.

"I remember one time I had to wait two hours outside a fruit shop just to get some milk!"

Nine teams from five schools in the area were entered at this year’s Technology Tournament organised by the Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock and South Essex College. 

The overall winners were Grays Convent High School (top photo) with their amusingly named hovercraft, "The Flying Nun".  There were also certificates for: the straightest running hovercraft, Treetops School (middle photo); the fastest hovercraft, Hathaway Academy (bottom photo), for the best Teamwork shown, Gable Hall School and for the best designed hovercraft, again Grays Convent High School. 

Email: photographer@treborphotography.com

Telephone: 01376 786995

The Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock was pleased to make a donation of £500 to Thurrock Contact the Elderly, a charity that hosts tea parties for elderly residents who live alone. Lorraine Coleman, the Area Co-ordinator, said she was “taken aback at the amazingly generous donation”, and it would go towards the summer outing in May for all 8 of the tea party groups. The cheque was presented to Lorraine by Elaine Stevens from the Rotary Club. She said “they do such a wonderful job, we are so pleased to be able to help”.

 

                                                                                                                            

The classes help improve the fitness and wellbeing of people who suffer from, of have suffered, illness such as strokes and heart problems. One of the swimmers, Pete, told how much the classes had done for him both physically and mentally after an Aneurysm left him severely disabled and unable to walk. The cheque was presented by Elaine Stevens, Community Service Chairperson to Wendy Barnard, instructor. Wendy said “the classes are such a lifeline, and costs have to be covered by fundraising”. 

‘Snapping up some Winners’

the Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock will once again be organising a Local Heat for 2019 - closing date for entries 31/01/19. If you would like to receive further details and an information pack when published please contact Youngphotographer@rotaryclubofgraysthurrock.co.uk.

The Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock kicked off 2018 with a completely new but successful event for young people in Thurrock. The Young Photographer competition for 7 to 17 year olds received an extremely rewarding number of entries from primary and secondary schools across the borough. One of the organisers, Rotarian Alan Falder commented, “It’s no wonder that the judges had such a difficult task choosing the winners as I was really amazed by the high standards of entries around the theme – “A Different Perspective”.

We are very pleased to announce that in the district 1240 finals for the Rotary Young Chef event Sasha from the Gateway Academy (our club winner) won the event and will now represent the district at the regional event. We join together to congratulate Sasha and wish her all the very best in the regional heats next month

Sasha's winning dishes

crispy prosciutto, buffalo mozzarella and blowtorched figs

(homemade focaccia, pea shoots with a balsamic glaze and basil oil)

pan roasted pork tenderloin, celeriac puree and parsnip crisps

(honey roast root vegetables and sprouts in a red wine gravy)

chocolate & banana, avocado mousse

(raspberry coulis, chocolate & pistachio soil with a pistachio tuille and fresh raspberries)

and we give additional thanks to Graeme Collie, Head of Commercial Catering at South Essex College, Grays who has mentored Sasha and contributed enormously to her success

The Rotary Club of Grays Thurrock, in partnership with the Gateway Academy, has organised the Thurrock Mathletics event for many years.

This year teams of four more able pupils from each Primary School across Thurrock will compete against each other on Thursday 8^th March.

Which schools will be in the top three this year?

Biggles and his chums Algy and Ginger have been at it again

On Sunday 26th April youngsters from Thurrock took part in the RYLA (Rotary Young Leaders Awards) held this year at Danbury Youth Centre