Take me to the sea is an exhibition of YOUR sea-themed work. You can get involved by making artwork if you’d like. It started in April 2023 in a bookshop in Southampton, and was on tour at Aldermoor Community Farm in July and August 2023, and we ran a series of events in order to encourage people to enjoy and add to the exhibition. This project has a Facebook page.

In March 2024 we took the Take Me to the Sea project into the Hawthorns Care Home, thanks to some generous funding from Natural England. We turned the Quiet Lounge into a seaside-themed exhibition space. We decorated the room with bunting and beach pictures and memorabilia.

We arranged a series of activities. Care home residents were bought into the Lounge to trial the activities out during our opening session. This included:

• Watercolour painting, which allowed residents and staff to create realistic pictures, abstract pictures or just enjoy the feeling of using the brush and paints. Once painted, these were put up around the room for people to see.
• Julian made a video of seaside pictures with a sea-themed soundtrack and put this on the TV in the lounge for residents to watch and listen to when they pleased. This is available here: https://youtu.be/GQdQNUu100g?si=4d0AnkoNceUTJuy4
• A fishing game where residents were given a fishing rod made out of a bamboo cane with string, which they dangled into a box that looked like a pond. They were able to fish out a picture of a fish or an old boot, attached using a magnet.
• Looking through photographs and artwork that others had previously made, as well as an album of historic photos of Southampton’s waterside.
• We also made up a trolley of portable activities that the care home staff could take around to residents’ rooms.

The care home staff enjoyed having new things to do with the residents. Once set up, the care home staff were able to bring residents into the lounge to get involved with the activities throughout the course of the month.

Residents talked about their connections with the water. Families and friends of the residents were encouraged to participate by sharing seaside memories.

We continue to take in knitted pieces to add to our big knitted seascape, so if you are handy with wool, then please do knit or crochet us a wave or two.

Organised by Rebecca Kinge, Deb Wilkes, Chris Townsend, Julian Harrow and Clare Diaper, alongside other friends in the local community, this is a chance for you to contribute something about your connections with the sea.

HOW WE STARTED “TAKE ME TO THE SEA”

Take Me to the Sea started on Thurs 6 April 2023 at October Books, with our launch followed by a sea-themed session of Southampton Storyclub. We were overwhelmed by all the lovely contributions of sea-themed artwork that people brought along and made on the day. Follow us on Instagram to see our pictures. We heard from Rebecca Kinge about the reason behind the exhibition (see a Tik Tok made by her daughter Rosie), poems by Dave Hubble and a flashbob of the Salty Seadogs singing Sea Shanties. We also welcomed Ami from Bluestar buses and we asked people to share their barriers to getting to the places they love. You can still tell us what stops you getting out and about, by answering our survey. Thank you for all the kind donations too. Our launch day was finished off in a relaxing way with tales from the clever wordsmiths from Southampton Storyclub.

On Saturday 22th April 11am-3pm we held an event called Making Waves. This fun day, involved Fishy Tales with Michael O’Leary Storyteller, Stitch-the-Sea and Lego-the-Land making activities all day, Jellyfish making with Chris Townsend, and Sea Shanties led by Julian Harrow.

Our last main event was Reflections on Thursday 27th April 2-4.30pm. This was a calm space where we reflected on our connections with the water through a series of creative activities.

People could also pop in to view the exhibition throughout April.

People in Southampton regularly say they wish there was more access to waterside locally. We plan to collect your experiences as part of the exhibition about the barriers to getting to the places you love, in order to influence the development of local services and projects.

We did not charge for these events and all the people involved give their time for free. We were grateful for donations to help cover our costs. Through donations online and cash on the days, we raised enough money to cover our expenses and enable Take Me to the Sea to go to its next tour location – Aldermoor Community Farm in July.