Mr. Raymond Cyril Charles Boniface succeeds Brigadier W.G.D. Knapton as General Manager of Basildon Development Corporation. Before succeeding Brigadier Knapton Mr. Charles Boniface had been the corporation's Chief Solicitor since joining the board on 1st October, 1949. He would remain in the post until 1975 and became known locally as "Mr. Basildon".

Church Road, Vange shop parade completed. The three shops with upper floor accommodation were built to serve the ongoing Vange housing developments. P.D. Green's grocery store at No.1 was one of the first to open.

Teleflex open a factory for the manufacture of steel cable at Christopher Martin Road on the No.1 Nevendon Industrial Estate. The company, which began as MRC (Mechanical Remote Controls Ltd) in the 1930s, relocated to Basildon from Chadwell Heath. It is now known as Kongsberg Automotive.

14th February

The first inter-town bus service begins. The service, numbered W44 and run by Westcliff-on-Sea Motor Services, served the new housing developments at Fryerns and ran from Pitsea railway station to the Whitmore Way junction with Quendon Road. The route was later renamed 244 from November 20th 1955 when Eastern National took over Westcliff's services and gradually extended as work on Whitmore Way progressed, reaching the then under construction town centre on May 4th 1958. Later the same year the service would reach its final destination, Laindon railway station, via the recently completed Laindon Link.

3rd March

Lieutenant General Sir Humfrey Myddelton Gale, K.B.E., C.B., C.V.O., M.C. succeeds Sir Lancelot Keay as Chairman of Basildon Development Corporation. Sir Lancelot, who retired on 02/03/1954, had been due to retire the previous month but the Minister of Housing and Local Government extended by a month all board members term of office.

10th April

Fryerns Community Centre opened. This new 50ft by 20ft wooden hall, built by volunteer residents and members of Fryerns Area Tenants Association, was situated adjacent to Southcote Crescent and The Fryth on the Fryerns 3 housing estate. It was the first new 'social amenity' in the new town and built under supervision from the association's secretary Mr. E. Parsons. The Deputy Chairman of Basildon Development Corporation, Mr. Charles Percival Bowyer, T.D., F.R.I.C.S., performed the opening ceremony. Though only planned as a temporary community centre - it was replaced in 1960 when a permanent community centre was built in Whitmore Way adjacent to the Main Centre shops. The building then became the Old Fryerns Community Hall where it was used by, among others, the Basildon Town Motor Cycle Club as their headquarters. It survived until Wednesday June 28th, 1972 when it was destroyed in a fire.

13th April

First new Public House opened - The Crane, in Denys Drive, Fryerns, by brewers Whitbread & Co. Ltd. Mr. E.L. Protheroe from Basildon Development Corporation unveiled the forecourt sign while inside Mr George Walker and his wife Elizabeth, the pubs' resident landlord and landlady, were preparing to serve the drinks in each of the two bars. An off-licence was also incorporated into the buildings design.

29th April

First new school opened - Swan Mead County Infants' & Junior, in Church Road, Vange. Mr. Bernard Goodfellow was appointed the first Headmaster of the junior school. In January 2002 the school was renamed Cherry Tree Primary School.

July

The former Moat House Farm in Church Road, Basildon is demolished. This substantially built house stood to the centre of a large plot of land that was almost enclosed by a large moat. Fortunately the moat and some surrounding land was retained and although poorly fenced off for many years it continues to be used by members of the Basildon and District Angling Society. The wider area to which it stood is now called Fryerns. It later gave its name to a special needs school located in Church Road.

3rd July

The first new church to be built in the new town, Fryerns Baptist Church at 147 Whitmore Way, opened. Founding minister Pastor Charles B. Phillimore took the opening service and remained the churches Priest-in-Charge until 1967. A foundation stone-laying service was held the previous year on Saturday, November 21st. The church was the work of architect E. Joseph Wood, F.R.I.B.A., whose name and that of the builders, Haines & Warwick Ltd., are commemorated on the main foundation stone. From 13/08/1954 the church was registered for solemnising marriages in place of the temporary Vernons Baptist Chapel; a former bungalow in Timberlog Lane, Fryerns where services had previously been held.

6th September

Whitmore County Infants' & Junior School in Whitmore Way opens. The school is named after the road in which it stands which itself took the surname of Colonel Sir Francis Henry Douglas Charlton Whitmore, 1st Baronet, KCB, CMG, DSO, TD, JP (20/04/1872 – 12/07/1962), who had strong ties with the area and lived at Orsett Hall, Orsett. At the time of the schools' opening Sir Francis Whitmore was also Lord Lieutenant of Essex, serving from 1936 to 1958. Mr. Claude A.J. Bernardin is appointed as Headmaster. In September 2011 the school became Whitmore Primary School & Nursery.