Meandering Mondays
Meandering Mondays are a gentle stroll of up to 2 miles in different Thurrock locations, followed by tea and chats. They take place every second Monday of the month – no booking required.

Weekend Trails
Weekend Trails are longer walks of up to 5 miles in Thurrock and the surrounding areas, often focused around a special theme. They take place on Saturdays or Sundays each month – booking required.

October

Meandering Monday, Purfleet
Monday 13 October, 10am – 12pm

Join this walk in Purfleet starting and ending at the Kinetika Studio, exploring the vibrant T100 Natural Dye Garden and rounding off with tea and cake.

Weekend Trail, East Tilbury
Saturday 11 October, 10am – 1pm

A 5-mile, 3-hour walk along the East Tilbury Sea Wall, starting at the train station and linking with the BATA Heritage Centre’s open day.

Find out more at t100festival.co.uk/regularwalks/

November

Meandering Monday, South Ockendon
Monday 11 November, 10am – 12pm

Discover South Ockendon with a gentle walk from the Garden Centre to the Mollands Lane Sensory Garden, finishing cup with tea and cake.

Weekend Trail, Little Belhus
Sunday 16 November, 10am – 1pm

A 4.6-mile, 3-hour walk in little Belhus, from Ockendon Station or The Green, where you’ll explore insights on historical pilgrimage routes through Thurrock and end with a visit to the beautiful St Nicholas Church.

Find out more at t100festival.co.uk/regularwalks/

T100
Explore | Talk | Create

T100 is a free cultural programme that invites you to connect with Thurrock and its surroundings in new and unexpected ways. By exploring local places, sharing stories, and getting creative, they bring people together and celebrate the voices that make our communities unique.

Visit T100festival.co.uk to learn more.

Follow @T100festival

The post T100 Autumn Programme of Walks Announced appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

With a special emphasis on coastal heritage, the project centres on inclusivity, working with diverse local communities.

The project aims to gather 150 stories and images reflecting the area’s 3 stretches of coastline.

Community stories

Project partners Essex Book Festival (Harwich and Orford Ness) and Out There Arts (Great Yarmouth) have worked alongside local groups, in collaboration with writers and digital artists, to uncover individual stories and shared narratives through walking tours, heritage site visits and creative expression.

In Harwich, the Essex Book Festival team worked alongside filmmaker Marley Karazimba, wordsmith TriggerBliss, and Kate O’Neill, sound archivist at Essex Record Office. Participants were the Electric Palace Cinema Young Film Programmers, the Connect Without Limits Autism Group, African Families in the UK, and Refugee, Asylum Seekers and Migrant Action (RAMA)

With the support of the National Trust, the creative team of Essex Book Festival, photographer/filmmaker Lucia Barbagallo and writer Emma Kittle-Pey enjoyed access to the internationally important coastal nature reserve Orford Ness. This remarkable experience inspired story-gathering sessions with communities in Orford

In Great Yarmouth, 5 local community groups took part in workshops led by filmmaker Mark Hannant and author Belona Greenwood: Men’s Walk and Talk, a men’s mental health organisation; Heritage for Wellbeing, a mental health organisation created by the Restoration Trust; Stomping Ground, a Great Yarmouth Youth Club for young people aged 11 to 18; Great Yarmouth Refugee Orientation Service; and Herring House Homeless Support Charity

Creative display at the Beach of Dreams Festival

The stories, memories and images from workshop participants will inspire written work, drawings and photographs created by artists, which will be revealed to the public in digital content and designed silk pennants.

The pennants, which are part of the Beach of Dreams national commission, ‘The Beach of Dreams Silks’, will be displayed during free, family-friendly events and walks from 28 to 30 May across Harwich, Orfordness and Great Yarmouth and will remain in the communities as enduring symbols of their stories and identity.

Orford Ness and Harwich, both steeped in history, have different stories to tell – it has been a privilege finding out more about these two extraordinary coastal destinations.

Ros Green
Essex Book Festival Director

We are really pleased to have funded this project in the East of England, where coastal heritage plays an important part in the lives of local communities in three towns with very different histories. Through working with artists, people will have a chance to explore the heritage on their doorsteps, unearth hidden histories and celebrate what makes their towns so special. The project will also enable people to reflect on the future of their places as this coastline changes.

Tamsin Silvey, Cultural Programme Curator
Historic England

The post New Project Celebrates The Coastal Heritage Of Great Yarmouth, Harwich and Orford Ness appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Kinetika and Essex Book Festival have been funded by Historic England to gather stories and images of Harwich as part of the national UK wide coastal arts festival Beach of Dreams.

We will design and make 50 silks representing 50 stories from Harwich. These silks will join the national commission – an evolving installation of over 600 silk pennants that will tour the coastlines of the UK in May 2025. beachofdreams.org

They will be installed in Harwich on 28 May where the stories will be shared on a promenade walk led by artist TriggerBliss.

If you would like to contribute a story and design a silk do join Ali’s workshop on 19th Jan. (Free, drop-in, no booking required)

The post Beach of Dreams Silk Design Workshops with Ali Pretty appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Festival Patron Sarah Perry, our Finale event for the day, summed up the magic of the day in the following words:

“Just the most extraordinary day at University of Essex for the launch event of the Essex Book Festival…I couldn’t be more proud and honoured to be an Essex Girl, the Essex Chancellor, an Essex Book Festival patron and an Essex novelist. The time of mockery is over: the era of Essex has begun!”

What an amazing endorsement!

And that’s just the start. We have so much more to come with events taking place in venues across the county over the coming month. View all upcoming events at essexbookfestival.org.uk/events/.

The post What a start, and still so much to come… appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Led by Kinetika in collaboration with Rosa Productions, Beach of Dreams is an exploration of the UK Coastline and its’ environment beginning in June 2024 and culminating in a UK wide walking arts festival 1 May–1 June 2025.

Beach of Dreams offers a creative way to respond to the Climate Emergency. It is an invitation to join a moment of reflection and action in the month of May 2025 to discover more about our coastlines, ourselves, and our planet, in collaboration with local communities, artists, writers and scientists.

Beach of Dreams 25 will be launched on 1 June at Essex Book Festival, where the commissioned artists and the programme of activity will be announced.

Find out more about Beach of Dreams 2025: beachofdreams.org

#beachofdreams25

Image of Beach of Dreams flags credit Mike Johnston

The post Funding announced for Beach of Dreams 2025: a UK wide walking arts festival appeared first on Essex Book Festival.

Saturday 1st June – Mark the diary now.

How to get involved

We’re looking for volunteers to join us on the day, If you would like to come along and hold a Beach of Dreams pennant, register your interest by completing this form.

The post Fancy being a flagbearer? appeared first on Essex Book Festival.