THURROCK Council leader Councillor John Kent is calling on the borough’s schools and artists to get involved in creating a lasting memorial to the First World War.

Speaking at a recent council meeting, Mr Kent said: “I am on the record as having said before I think that at the end of 2018 when we come to the end of the centenary we should have a lasting memorial to the fallen from Thurrock in the First World War.”

He was speaking in answer to a proposal that the council should commemorate those who died in the 1914-18 conflict close to the month of their death – a proposal Cllr Kent said he would discuss with other council leaders.

He added: “We know that we lost somewhere between 800 and 900 men - and they were all men - during the Great War.

“I was really moved by seeing the poppies at the Tower of London. I think it would be a fantastic opportunity if Thurrock schools and Thurrock artists were given a portion of those 800 to look into – look at the the social history and find out something about each of them.”

Cllr Kent said that could lead to the creation of an enduring memorial for them with a “permanent poppy for each of those that have fallen put on display somewhere in Thurrock.”