Queue in Civic Square

Does anyone know why these people were queuing in Civic Square in about 1952/3? My mother and brother are at the front of the queue.
There was a label on the back that explained the occasion, but most of it has fallen off and lost, and I can’t remember what it said.

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  • I remember queing for bags of dried fruit sent from Australia and on one occasion Carpets were given to us from India, I remember mum had to write her name on a tag that Mr Davies attached to it and then somebody delivered it to every family in Tilbury. I was born in 1941 at my Nans shop 58, Calcutta Rd, the drapers shop (nanny Summersby collected donations of clothes and other goods to provide for families and returning service men and and the families that had been bombed out.

    By Anna Garwood (nee Anne Ballanger) (07/06/2021)
  • Hi Tracy,
    Doctor Dunlops house is still there behind the trees. You can see it on this Google street view:-
    https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@51.4616323,0.3639399,3a,75y,9.17h,95.2t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sd1jMR_NcHrdkg3HrDmoN1w!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

    By Cliff Cowin (03/09/2020)
  • I lived in Tilbury from 1964 until 2013 when I moved to the Isle of Wight. Can anyone tell me if Dr Dunlops house is still standing? If so is it occupied? It stands just behind Boots Chemist.

    By Tracy Coleman (01/09/2020)
  • I think the people were queueing for flood relief parcels in 1952. They were distributed from what I think was then the bank but became Davies chemist eventually.

    By Patricia Rowland (Carter) (18/02/2019)
  • I think that the newly built house in the background was Dr Dunlop’s house and surgery.
    To the left out of picture would have been Davies Chemist and the traffic lights.
    If this was 1953 it could be to do with the floods.
    The fact that many people are smiling may indicate that they were waiting to get a glimpse of the Queen when she visited Tilbury.
    Here is a bit of news footage of the Queens visit in 1953
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdpNe7y5snI

    Also, there was still food rationing in 1953.

    By Cliff Cowin (17/12/2018)

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