T100 Walking Festival
Community Flags / Place Making / WalkingT100 Walking Festival
T100 is an annual walking, talking and making festival that encourages multiple stories to surface in Thurrock and the surrounding areas. Since 2015 we’ve travelled on a journey with a growing team of volunteers, one year spontaneously building the theme for the next, all the time drawing more people in through a range of arts and shared conversations.
What began as a 100-mile marathon across the borough, has developed into a festival that starts and ends in Thurrock and stretches along and across the estuary, into Southend and over to Kent. It has become increasingly locally-led and reflective of grassroots identity, bringing people together and connecting them to local places and spaces.
Thurrock 100 Festival has developed in collaboration with a wide range of local partners including Thurrock Council, Thurrock CVS, The Complete Commedia Company, Thurrock International Celebration of Culture (TICC), Tilbury On The Thames Trust, Port of Tilbury, One Community Trust, Royal Opera House (ROH) Thurrock Trailblazers, High House Production Park and Purfleet Centre Regeneration Ltd (PCRL).
“T100 has surpassed project ambitions in so many ways. It is an interwoven web of community relationships, informing and supporting the artistic response instigated and guided by Kinetika and local community leaders.
The depth of the T100 festivals proves how embedded and established it is within the local landscape and how listening is pivotal to artistic integrity and co-creation. The future is bound to be colourful, richly layered in exciting content.
Thank you for shining a light on Thurrock in ways beyond words.”
Dulcie Alexander, Arts Council England.
The concept of T100 is very simple. In response to the theme selected for the year, a programme of walks and community-led activities is devised by local groups
The festival takes place in towns and villages over 3 weeks each summer, with a series of walks connecting all the events together.
Leading up to the festival, activities are undertaken in libraries, schools and community spaces and have included writing, drawing, cooking, painting, researching, dancing and acting.
The results add colour to the walks which have incorporated heritage talks, shared community meals, outdoor theatre, silk flags reflecting local stories, singing and even the making and performing of an animated 12-foot-tall Tilbury Docker puppet designed by local high school students.
The magic of T100 is its simplicity as a framework. It enables groups to come up with their own ideas, develop them as separate projects then showcase and share them to the wider community as part of the festival.
Download the T100 2020 Evaluation Report
Find out more
View the digital exhibition on the T100 website.
Can we co-create a walking festival with you?
“The Thurrock100 festival shines a spotlight on the creative spirit and passion of the people across our borough. At the heart of it are members of our community and the stories they share between them. Thurrock has so much to offer and see and Thurrock100 is a great way for people discover its history for themselves.
With our many marshes and green spaces along the Thames Estuary or passing through our heritage towns of Orsett, Chafford Hundred and Chadwell St Mary, there is so much for people to experience.
I look forward to seeing the Thurrock100 festivals continue to bring people together for many years to come.”
Lyn Carpenter, Chief Executive of Thurrock Council
Photos are by Mike Johnston
