Great is Thy Faithfulness by Ian Yuille

Great is Thy Faithfulness is a history of Socketts Heath Baptist Church since its opening in 1933. The author had access to the church’s minutes book and tells a story of local people, usually working together, but sometimes quarrelling amongst themselves. There are many incidental details – such as the build-up to D-Day in and around Little Thurrock. It will be particularly interesting for those who were involved with the church (or their descendents). This booklet has 52 pages and is illustrated with photographs and newspaper cuttings. It is available from the church, the author or via the society and costs £4.00.

StoryChain describes itself as a collection of personal memories, poems and short stories. Most of the items in the booklet are fascinating snippets of oral history and it contains a wealth of individual anecdotes. The story tellers are members of St John’s Church, Victoria Avenue. The earliest “story” is about Thurrock during the First World War. The stories in the booklet continue through the thirties and the Second World War to reach the “pea-souper” smogs of the 1950s. Many of us will read the stories and say, “I remember that”, but for our grandchildren it will be a glimpse of a world that has now vanished. This booklet has 98 pages and is illustrated by old photographs and documents. It is available from the Thameside Complex and costs £5.00.

Nanny Goats Island is a history of the town of Tilbury. The author was born in Tilbury and has lived in Thurrock for most of his life. The book’s title is a reference to the goats and horses that grazed the marshes and sometimes wandered into the town. The booklet contains a few pages dealing with the history of the area before 1850, but its strength is the period after the arrival of the railway. The building of the docks; the inter-war period; the Second World War; the 1953 floods and post-war developments are all covered – in many cases from personal experience. This 52 page booklet is illustrated with maps and line drawings and is available from the Thameside complex.

Each of the booklets contains the names of many local people and describes their activities - sometimes normal and sometimes eccentric. Despite the occasional “typo”, they each deserve a place on the bookshelf of everyone interested in the local history of Thurrock.