Imagine a table where everyone is welcome.
A table where stories are shared, strangers become neighbours, recipes travel between generations, and conversations begin.
A Place at the Table is a year-long creative programme bringing people across Thurrock together through conversation, creativity and shared experiences to help build that table together.
Across Thurrock, we’ll be inviting people from different communities, backgrounds and generations to explore ideas of home, hope and belonging, creating opportunities to meet neighbours, share stories and build new connections. At a time when division can feel louder than understanding, the project celebrates the everyday acts of care, creativity and communities that bring people together, ensuring everyone has a place at the table.
Together with local residents, community groups and partners, we’ll create a new touring textile artwork: a community picnic set made by and for Thurrock. Through stitching, embroidery, printing and conversation, the picnic set will become a collection of shared words, memories and stories that reflect the people who call Thurrock home.
Designed to travel across the borough, the completed picnic set will be activated at community events in Spring 2027, creating welcoming spaces where people can gather around one table to share food, stories and conversation, continuing discussions around belonging, migration, identity, family and place.
Led by Kinetika Artistic Director Ali Pretty, with artists Sarah Doyle and Lesley Robinson, A Place at the Table builds on Kinetika’s twelve years of creative, community-led work across Thurrock, continuing our commitment to bringing people together through art, participation and shared experiences.
Image: Welcome to the UK Flag, designed by Ali Pretty (Kinetika) in collaboration with Mark Massey, Together Productions and Welcome to the UK, Grays.
Part One: A Place at the Table at The Big Lunch
July – August 2026
Over the summer, Kinetika joined The Big Lunch events across Thurrock, beginning the conversation around hope, home and belonging.
At each event, we invited people to share one word that represented what these ideas meant to them. These words were embroidered onto pieces of cotton as we talked, stitched and reflected together, creating the first pieces of our community picnic set.
We visited communities across Thurrock at:
- 23 July – East Tilbury Big Lunch, Gobions Park
- 28 July – South Ockendon Big Lunch, Dilkes Park
- 5 August – Chadwell Big Lunch, Pyramid Resource Centre
- 11 August – Corringham Big Lunch, Corringham Town Park
- 17 August – Blackshots Big Lunch, King George’s Field
The words, conversations and connections gathered through these events are now feeding into the next stage of A Place at the Table: a series of creative workshops the bring people together to transform these contributions into a shared textile artwork.
Part Two: Creative Workshops
October 2026 – February 2027
This autumn, we’ll continue the conversation through a series of creative workshops with local groups and individuals.
Together, we’ll transform the words and stories gathered over the summer into a colourful, handmade community picnic set, including bunting, tablecloths, picnic blankets and placemats. Through stitching, embroidery, printing and conversation, the finished artwork will weave together many different voices, memories and experiences from people who call Thurrock home.
Led by Kinetika Artistic Director Ali Pretty, artist Sarah Doyle, storyteller Sophie Austin and poet Rachel Morgan, the workshops will explore five questions:
Who are we?
Where do we come from?
Where are we going?
How should we live?
What is sacred?
The completed picnic set will travel to community events across Thurrock in Spring 2027, creating welcoming spaces where people can come together to share food, recipes, stories and conversation.
Join our first creative workshop
Saturday 10 October, 11am–4pm
Kinetika Studio
002 Artist Studios
High House Production Park
Purfleet-on-Thames
Essex RM19 1AS
Our first workshop will explore the question Who are we?
The day will include an introduction to A Place at the Table and Kinetika, an opportunity to meet the artists and other participants, a shared lunch, conversation about Thurrock and its communities, and creative activities that will contribute to the final picnic set.
No particular creative experience is needed and everyone is welcome.
Spaces are limited due to the capacity of our studio, so booking is essential.
We’d love to hear from community groups, organisations and individuals who would like to get involved.
BOOK YOUR PLACE
https://forms.gle/KDc4iAdZoAtoQ2AE6
If you have any questions before booking, including around access needs, please get in touch with us.
Workshop dates
Saturday 10 October 2026, 11am–4pm – bookings now open
Saturday 28 November 2026, 11am–4pm
Saturday 12 December 2026, 11am–4pm
Saturday 23 January 2027, 11am–4pm
Saturday 30 January 2027, 11am–4pm
Part Three: A Shared Table
Spring 2027
In Spring 2027, the completed picnic set will travel across Thurrock, creating places for people to gather around one table, share food and stories, and continue conversations around belonging, migration, identity, family and place.
Five walks across Thurrock will activate the picnic set, including A Place at the Table on Thursday 4 March 2026, as part of Kinetika Calling.
Throughout the project, we’ll listen to and celebrate the stories of the people who make Thurrock what it is today. Together, we’re creating more than a textile artwork. We’re creating opportunities for connection, understanding and belonging, demonstrating how creativity can strengthen communities and inspire conversations that continue long after the making is finished.