ALL too often people from outside this borough are more than happy to knock it. It can get a bit tiresome and predictable. Yes, things aren’t want they used to be, but what in this world is?

But anyone doubting the strength of feeling within the borough’s many communities towards the most worthwhile of causes, such as honouring and respecting our troops, past and present, should think again.

There were so many remembrance services across the borough on Sunday. That says something right there. I was at the gathering in Grays, led by the Rev Darren Barlow, and this year’s crowd was bigger than last year’s. Young and old were there standing proud.

Whatever your views on war, those who have given their lives, or risked them, for this country deserve the utmost respect. These are remarkable people who are prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice to enable us to live as freely as we do today.

Thurrock has its problems, what borough doesn’t? But the essence of the borough’s many communities was plain to see on Sunday. Let’s hope even more people make the effort to turn out and pay their respects next year.