Ignite Social: Walking, Talking, Connected Communities

Celebrating the success of C100, November’s Ignite Chelmsford Social looks at how walking can highlight our talents, resourcefulness, and spirit.

Every second Thursday, Ignite Chelmsford host a social meet-up with creative inspiration and an opportunity to connect and learn how we can support one another’s work.

Whenever and wherever societies have flourished and prospered rather than stagnated and decayed, creative and workable cities have been at the core of the phenomenon. Jane Jacobs

This month we hear from three speakers who are deeply passionate about empowering local communities and have been involved in two different citizen-led walking festivals with creativity at their heart.

Ali Pretty, Kinetika and Lorraine Jarvis, Chelmsford CVS

Ali and Lorraine will share their vision for Chelmsford 100 (C100), a new festival of talking, creating, connecting and walking. They will talk about their creative partnership and how, this year, they created 100 silk batik flags with local community groups to tell the stories of Chelmsford. Be inspired and learn how you can get involved and support future years!

Rowena Macaulay, Walk Colchester

Rowena will talk about Jane’s Walks Colchester, part of a global movement of free, locally organised walking tours inspired by Jane Jacobs who believed in walkable neighbourhoods, urban literacy, and cities planned for and by people. She, like us, believed that for a city to work, the people who live there must be involved in decisions about how the city grows and is run. Like C100 by walking together, local residents make connections with each other and create a collective vision and identity for the future of their communities.

Image: Paul Starr for the Chelmsford 100 Festival

Cashless bar with soft and alcoholic drinks. Beer supplied by our friends at Chelmsford Brewery.

How to find the venue: Patch is in the old Chop Bloc space, just off the High Street, by the escalator entrance to Debenhams, and next to Nandos. Google maps: 51.732628, 0.475775

About Ignite Chelmsford:

Ignite is the home for Chelmsford’s creative community. A place to connect with fellow creative people, and collaborate with others that can enrich your work. A place to seek support and inspiration from one another. A place that can ignite a passion for Chelmsford’s cultural identity and future.

Ignite Chelmsford believes creativity thrives in a warm, open, and encouraging environment where everybody is welcome. We are passionate about helping Chelmsford realise its ambition as a city of creativity and innovation.

If you work, volunteer, or study in the creative and cultural industries in Chelmsford, have skills in a field of work that you think could bring out the best in Chelmsford’s cultural identity – or are simply interested in supporting this work, you could join the Ignite community.