Citizen of Southend Awards

The Judging Panel

Philip Miller, a local boy, born and raised in Southend On Sea. Philip began his working life on the side show games at the Kursaal, by his 20’s he had sold off his first rollercoaster and revealed the true entrepreneur within. Philip is now the Chief Executive of the Stockvale Group of companies which consists of Adventure Island, Sealife Adventure, four radio stations, Three Shells Beach Café, Sands bistro restaurant and more. With the exception of one radio station, all companies are based in Southend providing needed employment for the local people. Philip is often approached by developers with business opportunities from across Europe, but as a dedicated and loyal Southend man, he prefers to invest purely in our town. Philip was awarded his M.B.E. back in 2003 for various charity contributions; supporting John Grooms, Fair Havens Hospice, local schools and sporting clubs. Philip is currently on the board of the Southend Hospital Trust, and also provides an annual free day out to Adventure Island for under-privileged children involved with ‘Kids Day Out - London Taxi’ and ‘Kids Day Out - Rotary Club’. Councillor Ian Robertson approached Philip back in 2007 with a proposal to begin an awards scheme to reward our towns un-sung hero’s. Philip and key members of the community then began a committee to create ‘The Citizen Of Southend Awards’.

Yusuf has lived in Leigh-On-Sea for 44 years apart from 8 years whilst he was in Birmingham and is married with 2 adult sons. Yusuf is a Chartered Engineer and over his career he has worked for A E I Limited, I C I and British Rail. Since his retirement from British Rail he has been involved in various local organisations. He is the Founding former Chairman of the Southend Ethnic Minority Forum, the Chairman of British Transport Pensioners’ Federation (Southend Branch), a Non-Executive Director of the Southend Hospital Trust and a Governor of South East Essex College. Yusuf has been participated in Voluntary work for the Past 10 years.

Mick Thwaites has lived in Southend for over 30 years. Mick has spent most of his life as a Police Officer and the majority of that has been with Essex Police. From 2000 to 2005 Mick was the Divisional Commander at Southend and during that time he was the Chair of the Crime and Disorder Group and Vice chair of the Local Strategic Partnership. This brought him into contact with many outside partners and voluntary groups as well as the numerous diverse communities within the Southend Borough. His last role was as head of operations for Essex and within that role for the last 3 years he has been heading the Olympic Project for Essex Police until he retired at the beginning of 2009. Mick is a firm believer that Southend has a very caring community and that the Citizen of Southend award plays an important part in recognising the wonderful work that goes on across the Borough

John Barber was born in Southend, and apart for a short period during the War and National Service he has spent his whole life in the area. In his youth he had close links with St. Mary’s Church as a member of the Cubs, the Scouts, the choir and then in 1958 he married his wife Brenda at the Church. After leaving school John worked for Ekco both before and after his National Service. He subsequently spent a number of years in the retail industry, and in 1970 he purchased his first business on the west of Southend Pier. In 1982 he developed ‘The Three Shells’ Restaurant and in 2008 he sold the Business to Philip Miller. For 18 years John was the Chairman of the association covering the business sector for leisure and tourism in Southend On Sea and is currently acting as the link between the trade association and Southend Council, and other bodies regarding the regeneration of the Seafront. During his life in the town John has had privilege of meeting many wonderful people, particularly since becoming involved in ‘The Citizen of Southend Award’, which has given him the opportunity of meeting many unsung heroes, who have devoted so much of their time for the benefit of others.

Philip Miller MBE

Mick Thwaites

John Barber

Yusuf Goolamali

James Miller BA(Hons) MBA

James is the Operations Director of the Stockvale Group, and

has learnt business from the ground-up after 25 years working

for the company.

As part of his role, James Chairs the Stockvale Volunteering

Committee, whose mission it is to help as many people in the

community as possible. The committee has led beach cleans;

taken part in ‘Sleep Outs’ to raise money for HARP and the YMCA;

and provided volunteers across the town from the Stockvale

team. James also leads the Stockvale Fundraising Partnership,

which brings together charities and schools who are then

able to raise significant funds for all their different fundraising

goals.

James, together with the Stockvale team, helped win the Queen’s

Award for ‘Promoting Opportunity through Social Mobility’, which

is widely known as a knighthood for businesses. Stockvale were

the first in the industry to win such a coveted award and won

because of the transformational leadership programme that has

enabled over 1000 young people to have been promoted within

the company.

Deacon Sarah McDowall was a Methodist Minister in different parts of Scotland and then Cumbria before being stationed in Southend from September 2020. Her town centre ministry role includes serving as chaplain to the staff at Adventure Island and the Sealife Centre as well as being the minister at the Trinity Family Centre in Westcliff. Sarah is originally from the seaside town of Ayr, on the west coast of Scotland but hasn’t lived there for many years. Sarah is enjoying being in Southend and getting to know so many friendly people! When Sarah has time off she enjoys spending time with her husband Archie and the family and exploring the local area, pottering in the garden and knitting. She looks forward to the day when theatres and concert venues will reopen.