BEACH OF DREAMS A collaborative 500-mile walk from Lowestoft to Tilbury 26th June - 1st August 2021 - First Light Festival
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V4
500 500 500 500
M I L E S PEOPLE DREAMS S I L K S
START
BEACH OF DREAMS
SHUTTERSTOCK
Lowestoft
A collaborative 500-mile walk from Lowestoft to Tilbury
26th June - 1st August 2021
MARK MASSEY
Tilbury
SHUTTERSTOCK
Harwich
KINETIKA
D E S I G N T H AT M O V E S
FINISH
MARK MASSEY
Shoeburyness
JOIN THE CONVERSATION
#BeachofDreamsUK
FACEBOOK TWITTER INSTAGRAM
@kinetikapeople @kinetika @kinetikapeople
CONTENTS
Overview p3 Inspiration p10 INTERACTIVITY
This document
Why Beach of Dreams? p4 Day-by-day maps p12 is interactive,
so click on the
section titles on
Key dates p4 Bibliography p16
the left to take
you to that page.
Art meets science p5 Additional resources p18
You can also click
on buttons such
as the social
Area map p6 Educational resources p19
media links
above, and
clicking on URLs
Get involved p7 Creative team / credits p20
will take you to
the relevant
BEACH OF DREAMS A collaborative 500-mile walk from Lowestoft to Tilbury
26th June - 1st August 2021
OVERVIEW
SHUTTERSTOCK
Beach of Dreams is an epic journey to discover pennants This is a time of emergencies and
the hidden gems of the East Coast of England, illustrating the crises and humans always think
inviting collaboration from communities and beautiful coastal more clearly when walking. It is
artists along the way in Suffolk, Essex, landscape and its when walking that lost treasures are
Felixstowe Pier
Southend, and Thurrock. challenges. These spotted, and their value and meaning
pennants will be hand painted using natural
understood. Walking brings contact
Kinetika’s Artistic Director, Ali Pretty, and dyes by the Kinetika Design Studio and form
Guardian journalist Kevin Rushby are walking spectacular installations during the event.
with people and time to talk.
the entire route, joined by artists, writers,
scientists, and local residents. Together, Join the walk along the stretch you have The range and scope of people that
guided by strong environmental themes and chosen, and you can carry the pennant will be drawn into Beach of Dreams
the challenges of our current time, they will inspired by your own photo! is immense: scientists and artists,
consider the question “How can we creatively old and young, expert and amateur,
reimagine our future?” An installation of all 500 pennants will mark
all manner of people will make
the beginning of the walk on 26th/27th June,
contact, fostering new ideas,
Get involved, share a location, and share at sunrise on the beach at Lowestoft, during
your dream! First Light Solstice Weekend. The route
opinions and partnerships.
follows the coast, taking in stunning scenery,
Everyone is invited to choose a mile to wild landscapes and seaside towns. Further In this context, and in these times,
walk, submit an image of the landscape, installations and events take place along the Beach of Dreams feels like the right
a drawing and a few words about your way including Harwich Festival on 10th July thing to do. It is a walk that will bring
connection to it and your dream for its future. and the finale at Tilbury Fort on 1st August. vitality and colour to thousands of
All words and photos sent in will contribute
people, forging new connections and
to a new digital story map of the coastal Beach of Dreams is conceived as a national
path, reflecting and recording the narrative project that will unfold over two years along
relationships that will develop hope
of the walk as it unfolds. the UK coastline starting and inspiration when most needed.
in summer 2021 and Kevin Rushby, Writer
Images submitted by 9th April 2021 will be culminating in 2023, running
used as inspiration for the design of 500 silk in parallel with Year of The Coast.
3
WHY ‘BEACH OF DREAMS?’ KEY DATES
Beach of Dreams builds on the success Silk River, 2017 APRIL
Deadline
of Kinetika’s Silk River which worked
with ten communities along the Thames 9th for Design
A Mile
and linked them and their artistic
response through a continuous ten-day
142mile journey on foot. Kevin Rushby JUNE
joined us and wrote a daily blog. On the
day that we walked from Tilbury to East 26th First Light
Solstice
Tilbury, he encountered the glittering
MIKE JOHNSTON
JUNE Weekend,
foreshore on the Thames Estuary and Lowestoft
named it The Beach of Broken Dreams. 27th
Now in this time of restriction and stasis, seabirds marinaded in crude oil - all things
“Three years ago, near Tilbury, at a time when the countryside has offered I have encountered on the British coast.
I experienced something profound. In the itself up for rediscovery, I feel like I want to And somewhere high up in the dunes JULY
bleakest setting, on a grey flat day, with a walk, and walk far, finding more beaches among the rare orchids and butterflies, Harwich
muddy tide sucking on a scraggy shoreline, like that one near Tilbury. It feels like an there is often a wavy line of dried seaweed, 10th Festival
I came across a beach filled with marvels opportunity that needs to be grasped. like a hastily scribbled message from the
and treasure. It was the place where sea, warning us of even higher tides to
London had dumped its Blitz debris on top The beach is always the place where come. Kevin Rushby JULY
of a Victorian tip which was itself on top human life is exposed, with all its frailties,
of a Georgian dump, and so on back to ambitions and dreams. Voyages begin and On this first iteration of Beach of 26th T100
the Romans. I was totally unprepared for end here. Clothes are removed to expose Dreams, walking 500 miles down AUGUST Dreaming
it. No one had warned me. I’d strayed from the hard-won six-pack, or the beer belly. the East Coast, as we emerge blinking
the path and was watching my feet when Novels are started and finally finished. into sunlight from a winter of COVID 1st
I began to zigzag between the strange Children and dogs have fun, but restrictions and enter into a post Brexit
objects that were sticking out from the sometimes, tragically, drown. On beaches Britain, we hope to discover the gems
shingle and sand. we find sublime panoramas, but also all that lie along our fragmented foreshore JULY
the rubbish that we had thrown away and and have time and space to reflect, draw
Gently extracting a complete 19th century hoped never to see again. With a brutal breath and imagine how we go forward 31st Finale weekend
glass bottle from under a broken WWII disregard for human sensitivities, the from here.
AUGUST at Grays
wireless set and a vicious thistle, I reflected sands bear witness to our mistakes: and Tilbury
that you just never know where joy and
salvation are coming from. Beauty and
the dead dolphin in a broken fishing net,
the empty container with the skull and
Kevin’s Silk River blog page:
http://www.silkriver.co.uk/
1st
hope can crop up in the unlikeliest of places. crossbones sticker, and the stricken uk-walk-blog/
4
ART MEETS SCIENCE
Beach of Dreams will work with our lead
environmental partner Cefas (Centre for
Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture
Science) to look behind the headlines and
slogans and to work with artists, environmental
organisations, scientists, academics and coastal LOWESTOFT
communities in East of England to better HARWICH Wind Power and
understand the wide variety of climate change Coastal Renewable Energy
issues that are of vital significance to each Erosion https://www.ness-point.co.uk/
information/tallest-wind-turbine
https://www.tendringdc.gov.uk/
of our partner communities. environment/coast-protection/
-in-the-uk-gulliver/
coast-protection-and-flood-defence
With the guidance of Cefas and our selected
partners we have identified specific themes
within the overarching narrative.
TILBURY
Environmental Impact of
International Shipping
https://www.transportenvironment.org/
what-we-do/shipping-and-environment/
shipping-and-climate-change
PURFLEET-ON-THAMES
Sustainable
Communities
https://www.ourpurfleet.com
/OurHome
SOUTHEND-ON-SEA
Climate Change
https://www.essexlive.news/news/
essex-news/areas-essex-could-
underwater-2050-3742589
5
BEACH OF DREAMS
Southend pier
LK
O
FF
SU
MARK MASSEY
Tilbury
X
SE
ES
MARK MASSEY
6
BEACH OF DREAMS A collaborative 500-mile walk from Lowestoft to Tilbury
26th June - 1st August 2021
500 500 500 500
Graffiti wall, Thurrock Orford Ness
MARK MASSEY
M I L E S PEOPLE DREAMS S I L K S
GET INVOLVED
SHUTTERSTOCK
We have mapped a 500 - mile coastal route from Lowestoft to Tilbury and we are seeking
500 people to become champions of our precious landscape for future generations.
1 2
SELECT MILE TAKE TWO PHOTOS
Choose one mile of the walk Walk your mile and take two (see page 9) and photos sent in piers, posts, graffiti, sheds,
near to you, or one that you photographs to show the area: will be added to your map pin. huts, buoys, ropes, floats,
have a deep connection with, then one wide shot and one detail nets, baskets, birds.
reserve it online. Find the walk shot. The wide shot should Need some inspiration?
map on our website to find your show a view that gives context Look at the ground beneath Take a close-up photograph
one-mile marker, then click the of where you are. your feet and at the landscape What intrigues you? What do
marker to reveal a booking link: and seascape you are walking you see? Patterns, textures,
beachofdreams.co.uk The close up photo will be used in. What can you see? Sea, markings, colours, shapes,
as inspiration for a silk pennant coast, sand, pebbles, rocks, lines, light and dark, shadows,
made by Kinetika Design shells, flora and fauna, meeting reflections, distortions,
Studio, unique to that one mile of land and sea, dunes, boats, movement, scattering,
stretch. Images for silks should seaside furniture, facades, overlapping, harmony and
be submitted before 9th April seating, coastal structures, discord, erosion and decay.
7
BEACH OF DREAMS A collaborative 500-mile walk from Lowestoft to Tilbury
26th June - 1st August 2021
3 4
WRITE THREE SHORT PARAGRAPHS (OPTIONAL) CREATE A LINE
ABOUT YOUR SELECTED MILE DRAWING FROM SHAPES IN
In 300 words or fewer, describe: YOUR CLOSE-UP PHOTO
• What drew you to this particular square foot of the beach/land? Describe what you see. • Print out your photograph
• What connects you to this mile, who do you share it with? What are your memories? • Using a pencil make a tracing of the lines,
• What are your dreams for this place? Imagine what would you like it to be for your great, patterns, textures, marks, that you see.
great, great grandchildren in circa 2100. • Go over it in a thick marker pen,
• Give your writing a title. abstracting, simplifying, exaggerating
• Submit your words (see page 9), and they will be added to your map pin. the pattern.
• Photograph or scan your drawing.
• Submit your design by 9th April (see p9)
and it will be used as inspiration for the
special silk pennant being created to
ness
t Sh oebu ry represent your mile.
Shells a a r at
of the b
a lk to the end n East made dear friends along the way, as we
nted to
w foot o
I had wa e r s in c e I’d set e c ked have drawn, written, printed and painted
ryness
ev We’d ch
Shoebu e y e a rs ago. g a nd our response to this dramatic, changing
bout thre mornin
Beach a h il ly N o vember it lu red landscape. Individuals come and go, we are a
c ater as
on this
the tide o f re ceding w th e transient community, connected by this place.
rivulets ingly
followed . Su rpris
a s w e da re go g h the lim
pet
us as fa
r
p ie rc e d throu th e I imagine these shells, now nestled together,
d on
rged a n flecting
sun eme te pilla rs re lusters
will be washed apart as the next tide comes
o n c re n g c
covered
c
d m u d , revea li nd, in, fragmenting further. Each day they are
y crack
e oggy sa
wet shin e m b e d ded in s ke d, rearranged by the elements, and will gradually
, er, crac
le shells ach oth
of cock p o f e be broken down into tiny particles that one
u p on to
washed ted. day will transform into grains of sand on the
fragmen
broken, ed ma ny beach for excited children to scoop them up
ro c k , I’ ve wa lk
Thu r down in their little hands tossing them back out to
orking in nd wind
Since w th a t s tretch a is point sea in delight.
es , th e m iles - T ha m es to th Zoom sessions led by the artists and
t im eet-on e
m Pu rfl where th
river fro f th e e stua ry, e t a nd That is, if the beach is still there. artistic director Ali Pretty will be
outh o . I’ve m
at the m th e N orth Sea
meets available to demonstrate this process.
Tha mes Ali Pretty
Meeting links will be shared with
everyone who has selected a mile of
the walk, and registered their details
via the website.
8
BEACH OF DREAMS A collaborative 500-mile walk from Lowestoft to Tilbury
26th June - 1st August 2021
Wallasea Island
SHUTTERSTOCK
5 6 7
SUBMIT YOUR WORK OVER TO US WALK
Everyone taking part will be • We will transfer WITH US
emailed a link to an online form them onto the We invite you to
where all images and words should map on the Beach carry your dream
be submitted. Please use this of Dreams webpage – as a silk pennant,
method if you can, so we can keep (beachofdreams.co.uk). walking with us on
track of the entries more easily. your mile during
A reminder of what to send: • We will transform the festival.
Leigh-on-Sea
MARK MASSEY
your design onto
• Two colour photos – one of your silk, choosing a shade
mile, one close-up. of colour suggested
• Three short paragraphs. Your by your photo.
description of place. Your
memories. Your dreams.
• (Optional) Your finished black and
white line drawing.
9
INSPIRATION
A few examples of natural shapes and textures that can inspire your designs - these are the kinds of things to look out for on your initial walk - as well as some
examples of how they can translate into patterns for your pennant. Plus a selection of the natural dyes that Kinetika have been experimenting with for the silk flags.
10INSPIRATION
STEP-BY-STEPS SHOWING HOW TWO FLAGS WENT FROM PHOTO TO FLAG...
Ali Pretty’s photograph of her original inspiration at Covehithe Beach, Suffolk; two stages of the line drawing in progress;
and the wax pattern being applied to the silk.
The drawing that Kinetika made, based on Elizabeth Lynch’s original photograph of Maggi Hambling’s Aldeburgh Scallop (inset);
tranforming the drawing into a pattern on the flag, and finally waxing the silk.
11BEACH OF DREAMS A collaborative 500-mile walk from Lowestoft to Tilbury
26th June - 1st August 2021
Mersea Island
SCHEDULE
Saturday 26th and
Sunday 27th June
Lowestoft First Light
The walk itself is broken down into 35 stages. Solstice Weekend
Use this guide to find out which day includes your mile.
MARK MASSEY
Halesworth
Lowestoft
Aldeburgh
Halesworth
Southwold
Orford
SHUTTERSTOCK
Southwold
Aldeburgh
WALK 1: Sunday 27th June WALK 2: Monday 28th June WALK 3: Tuesday 29th June WALK 4: Wednesday 30th June WALK 5: Thursday 1st July
Lowestoft Euroscope to Southwold Lighthouse to Halesworth Town Park Aldeburgh Moot Hall Orford Ness local walk
Southwold Lighthouse Halesworth Town Park to Aldeburgh Moot Hall to Orford Ferry 4 miles
16 miles 10 miles 21 miles 16 miles
A short walk around one
We’ll be setting off from Lowestoft A walk by the River Blyth – first Quiet paths and lanes through rural A day close to the Alde estuary, first of the most remarkable nature
in the early morning and walking its estuary, to the village of Suffolk, then through Walberswick inland to the famous Snape Maltings, reserves in England, Orford Ness.
to Southwold mostly by the Blythburgh, and then the inland Nature Reserve, Dunwich, Minsmere then through Iken and the sea wall Access only by ferry from Orford;
12 Suffolk Coastal Path. river all the way to Halesworth. and Thorpeness. Plus Sizewell! by the Sudbourne Marshes. entrance fee payable.Sutton Hoo Ipswich Ipswich
Felixstowe Shotley
Sutton Hoo Orford Ferry
Dedham
Shotley
Bawdsey
Ferry
WALK 6: Friday 2nd July WALK 7: Saturday 3rd July WALK 8: Sunday 4th July WALK 9: Monday 5th July WALK 10: Tuesday 6th July
Orford Ferry Sutton Hoo to Felixstowe Ferry Ipswich Marina Shotley Ferry
to Sutton Hoo Bawdsey Ferry to Ipswich Marina to Shotley Ferry to Dedham War Memorial
17 miles 17 miles 19 miles 12 miles 17 miles
We walk inland through Chillesford We cross typical Suffolk heathland A seaside walk into We stay on the Stour & Orwell The Suffolk bank of the tidal River
before the river Deben takes us to the to the ancient village of Boyton. We Felixstowe, and then we walk, this time following the Stour takes us to Cattawade, where
estuary town of Woodbridge. From rejoin the coast soon after, following are never far from the tidal River right bank of the Orwell with we join the Stour Valley Path past
here, it’s not far to the Anglo-Saxon firstly the Ore estuary, before our Orwell as it makes its way to occasional diversions into the Flatford Mill and cross the boundary
burial site of Sutton Hoo. final destination of Bawdsey Ferry. the county town of Ipswich. surrounding countryside. to the Essex village of Dedham.
Harwich
Walton-on-the-Naze
Harwich
Dedham
Brightlingsea
Wrabness
Wrabness Walton-on-the-Naze
Jaywick
Jaywick Martello Tower
Martello Tower
WALK 11: Wednesday 7th July WALK 12: Thursday 8th July WALK 13: Saturday 10th July WALK 14: Sunday 11th July WALK 15: Monday 12th July
Dedham War Memorial to Wrabness House For Essex Harwich Ha’Penny Pier Walton-on-the-Naze Jaywick Martello Tower
Wrabness House For Essex to Harwich Ha’Penny Pier to Walton-on-the-Naze to Jaywick Martello Tower to Brightlingsea Ferry
11 miles 7 miles 19 miles 15 miles 16 miles
A day on the Essex Way, We take the final UK miles of cross- We’re back by the North Sea coast A circuit of the Naze Peninsula There’s coastal marshland on the
Britain’s oldest county trail. European Trail E2 to the ferry through Dovercourt before venturing to start with. Then, back in Walton, way to Point Clear and St Osyth.
We pass through Manningtree terminal at Parkeston Quay and then inland near Great Oakley, we take the prom through From here we go inland for a little
and Mistley, and are never far enter the Georgian old town of then Hamford Water provides the popular seaside towns while before returning to the
13 from the banks of the Stour. Harwich. Friday 9th July is a rest day. wonderful estuary walking. of Frinton and Clacton. coast at Brightlingsea.Tollesbury
Marina
Peldon
Peldon Brightlingsea
Maldon Bradwell
Mersea
Island Tollesbury Marina Maldon
WALK 16: Tuesday 13th July WALK 17: Wednesday 14th July WALK 18: Thursday 15th July WALK 19: Friday 16th July WALK 20: Saturday 17th July
Mersea Island Brightlingsea Ferry Peldon Church Tollesbury Marina Maldon Hythe
circular walk to Peldon Church to Tollesbury Marina to Maldon Hythe to Bradwell Waterside
13 miles 15 miles 19 miles 17 miles 20 miles
A circuit of the most gastronomic The Colne and one of its creeks We circuit the Abberton Reservoir Around the Tollesbury Wick Marshes Today we’re on the southern shore
island in Essex – we pass saltmarsh take us to Wivenhoe, where we cross before returning to the coast at to start with, passing the remains of the Blackwater estuary, passing
grazing, oyster beds, brewery and a the river by ferry to Fingringhoe. Salcott and the desolate Old Hall of the most unlikely branch line in the site of the Battle of Maldon
vineyard! Access from Brightlingsea From here we walk inland to Marshes. For bird-watchers, Essex. Then we turn west to follow and walking through Maylandsea
Ferry or Cudmore Grove on the island. the small village of Peldon. a day in paradise. the tidal Blackwater estuary. and Ramsey Island.
Bradwell
Paglesham
Jetty
Hullbridge
Wallasea Island Quay Rochford
South
Woodham Burnham
Ferrers -on-Crouch
Paglesham
Burnham-on-Crouch Jetty
WALK 21: Sunday 18th July WALK 22: Monday 19th July WALK 23: Tuesday 20th July WALK 24: Wednesday 21st July WALK 25: Thursday 22nd July
Bradwell Waterside to Wallasea Island Burnham-on-Crouch Quay to Hullbridge Quay Paglesham Jetty to
Burnham-on-Crouch Quay circular walk South Woodham Ferrers Quay to Paglesham Jetty Rochford (The Square)
17 miles 11 miles 17 miles 16 miles 12 miles
One of the most remarkable coastal Discover Wallasea Island, the largest We take the north side of the Inland at first, to avoid sea-wall The Roach Valley Way takes us by
walks in England. Seventeen miles man-made wetland in the UK, created Crouch estuary, through Althorne breaches. We regain the tidal River its namesake river to Rochford.
without habitation, save for the by the RSPB with sea-wall breaches Marina and North Fambridge, Crouch at South Fambridge and From here we complete a loop into
religious community beside the and soil from the Crossrail project. with a brief inland diversion to stay on its sea wall until we reach the Cherry Orchard Country Park
14 7th century St Peter’s Chapel. By ferry from Burnham-on-Crouch. the old rail line at Stow Maries. the Paglesham peninsula. and back to Rochford.Langdon Hills
Rochford (Westley Heights)
Benfleet
Shoeburyness
Benfleet
Thurrock
Canvey Island
Shoeburyness Thameside
Thurrock
Thameside
WALK 26: Friday 23rd July WALK 27: Saturday 24th July WALK 28: Sunday 25th July WALK 29: Monday 26th July WALK 30: Tuesday 27th July
Rochford (The Square) Shoeburyness Boom Canvey Island Benfleet Station to Thurrock Thurrock Thameside Nature
to Shoeburyness Boom to Benfleet Station circular walk Thameside Nature Park Park to Langdon Hills
14 miles 17 miles 14 miles 15 miles 14 miles
After a short inland start, we Straight along the coast, on the prom From Benfleet station. Explore We join the Thames Estuary Path There’s an early visit to East Tilbury
circumnavigate Barling Marsh on the at Southend and past the seafood the many faces of Canvey – today, with a side trip to the Wat Tyler before we walk through
southern side of the Roach estuary. stalls at Leigh. Thames-side marshes residential, holiday and industrial, Country Park too. Afterwards, Horndon-on-the-Hill. We end with a
Turning south, we skirt Gt Wakering take us to Benfleet where we then with nature reclaiming the we walk through Corringham part circuit of the Langdon Hills, the
before reaching the open sea. loop around Hadleigh Park. island’s western side. and Stanford-le-Hope. highest ground of Beach of Dreams.
South
Ockendon
Purfleet
South Purfleet-on-Thames / Beacon Grays
Ockendon Langdon RSPB Rainham Marshes
Hills
(Westley Purfleet-on-Thames / Grays Tilbury
Heights) RSPB Rainham Marshes
WALK 31: Wednesday 28th July WALK 32: Thursday 29th July WALK 33: Friday 30th July WALK 34: Saturday 31st July WALK 35: Sunday 1st August
Langdon Hills to South South Ockendon Village Green Purfleet-on-Thames Purfleet Beacon Grays Library to Tilbury
Ockendon Village Green to Purfleet-on-Thames to Purfleet Beacon to Grays Library Cruise Terminal
13 miles 13 miles 11 miles 5 miles 9 miles
We travel through the former Visiting rewilded lands in Belhus before Almost a circular walk. The Mardyke is Beside the Thames almost the On the final day we set out
Dunton Plotlands before heading crossing the London boundary at our companion at Davy Down. We whole way. There’s plenty of industry, through Chadwell St Mary before
across to the Mardyke, staying Hornchurch Country Park. From here, then take three of the Chafford but wilder patches too, as we paths and tracks take us through
beside it through what was we follow the London Loop through Gorges before passing the Kinetika cross under the QEII Bridge West Tilbury to Coalhouse Fort. A
15 fenland until the 1960s. Rainham and beside the Thames. studios on our return to Purfleet. on our way to Grays. Thames-side finish past Tilbury Fort.ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Writers that have inspired us and who have written about the East Coast
The Rings hundred miles by boat). It is a taking in the atmosphere of to radical University personal tour, from the seaside
of Saturn coast and a culture that is about the landscape and the abiding development, and social working piers to the empty marshes and
W.G. Sebald to be lost - not yet, perhaps, but relationship to the sea. At the estates in East Tilbury and Silver the New Town tower blocks,
What begins soon - to rising tides and industrial end of the journey we appreciated End. Essex was significant in the revealing a landscape and a story
as the record of sprawl. This Luminous Coast takes more than ever that the Essex Plotlands movement, seeing like no other. Alongside Essex
W. G. Sebald’s own the reader with him on his journey shoreline is especially memorable individual land ownership develop Man and TOWIE, there’s the
journey on foot through coastal over land and water; over sea for its obstinate refusal to into controlled New Towns, and Essex that nurtured the first
East Anglia, from Lowestoft to walls of dried grass, beside conform to conventional can claim to be the birthplace Puritan settlers in America,
Bungay, becomes the conductor stretched fields of golden crops, notions of what is beautiful or of British Modernism with welcomed refugees from Europe,
of evocations of people and alongside white sails gliding picturesque. This landscape is 1917 designs for cottages on fugitives from the underworld
cultures past and present. From across the intricate lacework singularly rich in history, and full the outskirts of Braintree. With and bombed-out East Enders.
Chateaubriand, Thomas Browne, of invisible creeks and estuaries, of layered meanings and visual a rich cultural history including Where dreamers and makers,
Swinburne and Conrad, to fishing under vast skies that are home pleasures to those who give it the musicians Depeche Mode, Alison punk poets, anarchist sects and
fleets, skulls and silkworms, the to curlews and redshanks and time and attention it deserves. Moyet and Dr. Feelgood, and a inventors all found inspiration.
result is an intricately patterned the outpourings of skylarks. home for artists Henri Chopin
and haunting book on the and Grayson Perry, this book
transience of all things human. Radical Essex demonstrates Essex as a hotbed Time Song:
350 Miles: Published by of radical activity, open to Searching for
An Essex Focal Point all possibilities. Doggerland
This Luminous Journey Radical ESSEX Julia Blackburn
Coast Ken seeks to tell Julia Blackburn
Jules Pretty Worpole with photographs another story, Excellent Essex has always
Over the course by Jason Orton exploring the less-known Gillian Darley collected things that hold stories
of a year, Jules The book offers a strikingly innovations and creativity of It’s time we talked about the past, especially the
Pretty walked original portrait of the Essex this English county. It examines about Essex. very distant past: mammoth
along the shoreline of East Coastline. Ken Worpole explains living practices from Christian It’s the county bones, little shells that happen
Anglia in south eastern England, – ‘We walked, cycled and communities, retreats for everyone’s heard to be two million years old, a
eventually exploring four hundred occasionally drove much of Tolstoyan princes and the first of; the place few of us know. flint shaped as a weapon long
miles on foot (and another the 350miles of Essex coastline practices of naturism in England, Gillian Darley takes us on a vivid, ago. Time Song brings many such
16stories together as it tells of Old Ways edge of England, between land ways that these birds have come T100 –
the creation, the existence and Robert and ocean, you will find beautiful, ashore and come closer to us. A New
the loss of a country now called Macfarlane haunted salt marshes, coastal In some ways, they seem to have Story for
Doggerland, a huge and fertile “Half a mile shallows and wide-open skies: become more like us than any Thurrock
area that once connected the offshore, walking the Thames Estuary. The estuary other bird. We might now evolve Kinetika
entire east coast of England on silver water, is an ancient gateway to England, together.’
with mainland Europe, until it we crossed a path that extended a passage for numberless
was finally submerged by rising gracefully and without apparent travellers in and out of London. Thurrock 100:
sea levels around 5000 BC. end to our north and south. And for generations, the people Walking in Stories
It was a shallow tidal channel of Kent and Essex have lived and Essex, Cicerone Kinetika
and the water it held caught worked on the Estuary, learning Guide
Low Country - and pooled the sun, such that its waters, losing loved ones to its Peter Aylmer CLICK HERE
TO ORDER
Brexit on the its route existed principally as deeps. Their heritage is a proud Peter Aylmer
Essex Coast flux; a phenomenon of light and but never an easy one. In the face has mapped
Tom Bolton currents. Its bright line curved of a world changing around them, our 500-mile route for Beach of
In Low Country, away from us: an ogee whose they endure. Dreams and has written several
Tom Bolton origins we could not explain other walking guides. Check out
records his probing, hallucinatory and whose invitation to follow we his website https://www.
journeys along crumbling could not disobey, so we walked Landfill trailman.co.uk/
sea-walls and through retail it northwards, along that glowing Tim Dee
parks, past abandoned military track made neither of water In Landfill, Tim
forts and plotlands. He uncovers nor of land, which led us further Dee argues that
an ancient battlefield upstream and still further out to sea. This rubbish tips
from a decommissioned nuclear is the Broomway, allegedly ‘the sustain life and
power station, visits England’s deadliest’ path in Britain and offer an alternative view of how
most deprived community and certainly the un-earthliest path we should treat any species who
treks the remote and beautiful I have ever walked.” dares to live so closely among
Dengie peninsula in search humans. About the book, Tim
of forgotten stories. In the Dee says: ‘I have been a lifelong
treacherous mudflats and coastal Estuary, Out birdwatcher but more recently I
resorts of England’s eastern from London have found myself spending time
edge, an alternative vision begins to the Sea watching people watching birds.
to emerge shaken by Brexit and Rachel Gulls in Britain are no longer
the rise of new, populist politics Lichtenstein seagulls and I’ve been fascinated
in Britain and America. Out at the eastern in the last decade by the various
17ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
Together for Our Planet
Beach of Dreams 2021 coincides with Together for our Planet – the UK’s year of climate action.
“We cannot afford to wait Conference COP26 with businesses, civil wind farms now powering
to act against the threat with our partners Italy in society groups, schools our homes and
of climate change. We November 2021 to bring and people across businesses, to local
must work together to together world leaders to the UK as part of our initiatives encouraging
protect our planet and commit to urgent global conversation on tackling children and parents to
people and ensure a climate action. climate change. Many walk to school. We want
greener, more resilient people from all over the to celebrate them and
future for us all. But each of us has a part UK are already doing their inspire more to join them.”
to play. That’s why, in the bit on climate change,
The UK will host the run up to the summit, from the engineers https://together-for-
UN Climate Change we’ll be working closely working on the offshore our-planet.ukcop26.org/
How can we be good ancestors?
We have been inspired by The Good Ancestor by Roman Krznaric.
We live in the age of long-term thinking pyramids to the NHS, ways in which we can democracy, culture
the tyranny of the now, grows every day. But humankind has always all learn to think long, and economics so that
driven by 24/7 news, what is it, has it ever had the innate ability exploring uniquely we all have the chance
the latest tweet, and worked, and can we to plan for posterity human talents like to become good
the buy-now button. even do it? and take action that ‘cathedral thinking’ ancestors and create
With such frenetic will resonate for that expand our time a better tomorrow.
short-termism at the In The Good Ancestor, decades, centuries, horizons and sharpen
root of contemporary leading public even millennia to the time to recover our foresight. Drawing More resources
crises – from the philosopher Roman come. If we want to and enrich this on radical innovations can be found here:
threats of climate Krznaric delves into be good ancestors and imaginative skill. from around the world, https://www.
change to the lack of history and the human be remembered well Krznaric celebrates romankrznaric.com/
planning for a global mind to show that by the generations The Good Ancestor the time rebels good-ancestor/
pandemic – the call for we can. From the who follow us, now is reveals six profound who are reinventing resources
18EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Educational resources on Climate Change for schools and community participation. Many resources and
opportunities to take part in this global movement are emerging. Here are a few we have identified.
Foundational Writing to a Planet in Crisis
Climate Change
Do you feel overwhelmed don’t know where to turn or invites you to write your
Curriculum
and unable to respond to what to do? The simple act Letter. Join the story of
for Educators the many crises we face? Do of writing a letter can help thousands worldwide
2020 you sense that change and a us see the world in a new who are finding their voice
An amazing and better future is possible, but way. Letters to the Earth in the midst of crisis. https://www.letterstotheearth.com/resources
very comprehensive
resource from WWF
(World Wildlife Fund) Creative Join this movement:
and Tag (Take Action Earth The Great Science Share for Schools
Global)
Creative Earth is an to live in. Whether shows how you’d like GSSfS is a timely can ask, investigate - placing it front
https://www.wwf.org. art competition for it’s green forests our planet to look in campaign to engage and communicate and centre of
uk/ sites/default/ people aged 16 and and garden cities, the future. whole school their own scientific this fast-growing
files/2020-10/ under from across clear skies and wind communities in questions with new campaign.
Curriculum_Climate_ the UK, run by the turbines or oceans More info at: raising the profile audiences. GSSfS
Action_Project%20 UN COP26 Climate teeming with life – https://together- and engagement stands apart by More info at:
2020.pdf Change Conference we want you to paint, for-our-planet. of young people valuing children’s https://www.
in collaboration draw or design a ukcop26.org/ in primary and scientific curiosity greatscienceshare.
with WWF. piece of art that creative-earth/ secondary school and communication org/
science. With the
The future belongs status of school
to you. What do you science lower than
want it to look like? other core subjects,
Together for Our the campaign has
Planet campaign is shown to lead to
inviting young people more time for
to get creative and science learning in
show global leaders school and at home
the world they want so that young people
19The Creative Team
Artistic Director: Ali Pretty “Beach of Dreams offers summer he will walk with made into abstract forms
Ali is the founding member the opportunity to extend Ali for 35 days and record the of Sea People, with their FUNDERS
and artistic director of my practice by learning journey on a daily basis distant voices heard in the
Kinetika. Since 2012 Ali’s how to use natural dyes capturing the narrative blowing tidal winds that
practice has been to develop challenging the aesthetic as it unfolds. travel along the crashing
transformational walking of my own silk work. • waves.”
arts projects with diverse Producing 500 individual Visual Artist: Nabil Ali •
communities these bring silk pennants, to carry the Nabil has developed a Produced by Kinetika:
people together by walking, dreams of 500 participants working methodology Donna Plakhtienko,
talking and painting large- for 500 miles will push the using plant matter as the Matt Lloyd, Katie Beadle,
scale silk creations. Ali has boundaries of the walking, primary process material, Edwina Rigby
led walking projects in talking and making model allowing him to explore the Production Manager:
Wiltshire, Isle of Wight, that I’ve been developing environment to produce Alex Lingford
Lincolnshire, Essex and for the last 8 years, which Art. He grows and collects Digital and Media
Thurrock, where she has has at its’ heart the voice his materials forming an Production:
developed an annual walking, of the local community.” intimate relationship with Rosa Productions
talking and making festival • the creative process to Artists (Silk Pennants):
Thurrock 100 This Writer: Kevin Rushby understand the boundaries Ali Pretty, Lisa Meehan,
pioneering place-making Kevin is Guardian Travel’s of the materials used. Jacci Todd, Margaret Hall,
model has been replicated ‘Explorer’ and a contributor For Beach of Dreams Lesley Robinson,
PARTNERS
internationally in various to the Saturday Review. Nabil will create an evolving Sarah Doyle, Sara Hayes,
forms in Ethiopia, Chile and He is the author of four installation – The Sea People. Kara Thompson,
India. Her most ambitious acclaimed travel books, Shannon Topliss,
project is Silk River, including Hunting Pirate “From the weeds of the Genevieve Rudd,
commissioned by the British Heaven, an investigation sea that covers the eastern Sally Chinea, Hazel Huber
Council as part of the UK/ of 17th century pirate utopias coast of Essex, wrapped Route Planner:
India year of Culture in 2017. in the Indian Ocean. His most around spiral shells, fish Peter Aylmer InspiralL nd n
Ali will work with a team of recent book is Paradise, an bones and old weathered Scientific Advisor: Cefas
artists to curate and produce historical account of human wood which tell the hidden Natural Dye Specialist:
500 individually designed searching for perfection over stories of the depths of Rob Jones, Romor Designs
silk pennants, the first of an the centuries. Kevin the North Sea, natural Film: Fotis Begklis F E ST I VA L
evolving national artwork. collaborated with Ali on Silk materials are scattered Photography:
BEACH OF DREAMS WILL BE
Kinetika works on hand- River, writing a daily blog of across the stony beaches Mike Johnston LAUNCHED AT KINETIKA’S HOME
BASE, HIGH HOUSE PRODUCTION
woven Murshidabad silk. the entire journey. This waiting to be found and Design: Mark Massey PARK, PURFLEET-ON-THAMES ON
RADICAL WALKS 13TH JUNE, AS PART OF ESTUARY 2021
20 PROGRAMME ASSOCIATED PROGRAMMEYou can also read
