Metal

Metal's MD, Colette Bailey, curated The Seaside Land at the Festival of Britain 60th anniversary celebration exhibition at the Southbank Centre in the heart of London with the help of numerous partners and artists from across Southend on Sea.  

Fourteen beach huts designed by artists with all kinds of cultural activity happening inside them, including: vintage beach wear lent by Southend's Beecroft Art Gallery; Postcards lent by Southend Museum; a gallery hut with changing exhibitions from Synchro Studios from Leigh on Sea, TAP from Southend, Whitstable Biennial and The Royal Standard from Liverpool; a shell grotto made with indigenous UK shells from the cockling industry; the Under the Pier arcade and much more was on show on Queen's Walk until 4th September 2011.

The Seaside Land also included a show garden designed by the award-winning Parks team from Southend Borough Council; the Guinness World Record breaking Longest Line of Bunting made by the Southend community in 2009, Mark Dion's 'Mobile Gull Appreciation Unit' commissioned by Folkestone Triennial in 2008, 'Liverpool Jackpot' by Franck Scurti commissioned by Metal and Liverpool Biennial and a 70m-long urban beach on the bank of the Thames.

THE SEASIDE WEEKEND 

Over the weekend of Friday 5 - Sunday 7 August, from 11am - 9pm, Metal and Southend on Sea Borough Council organised a Seaside Weekend of activities at Southbank Centre that saw a wide range of artists, talent, participation, fun and ideas from Southend travelling up to London to perform in and around the festival site at Southbank Centre. All activities were free including alternative End of the Pier show activities; traditional Regatta games and competition; an open air tea dance with the original Southend Waltz to kick off proceedings; nostalgic films from the 50's heyday of the British Seaside; a busking stage with some of the best of Southend bands playing all day; cockles, candy floss, urban sand and much more.

Programme:

11am – 5pm  
END OF THE PIER ACTIVITIES on display throughout the beach huts and across the site including:
The Curve – designed and built in Southend by artists, a Aunt Sally blackboard interactive artwork on Queens Walk all day
Crazy Golf and Beach Volleyball inside the Royal Festival Hall on the Clore Ballroom floor
Seaside Shorts – Films curated by The White Bus in a Beach Hut. A variety of nostalgic seaside films screened throughout the day
Exhibition of old photographs from 1950’s – 80’s of Old Leigh Regatta and traditional beach games.
Exhibition of Southend Postcards on loan from Southend Museum
Exhibition of Vintage Beachwear from the 1950’s on loan from Beecroft Art Gallery
The Shell Grotto created by Southend artist Heidi Wigmore
And much more in all the other Beach Huts...

12pm – 1pm and 2pm – 3pm
ALTERNATIVE REGATTA DISPLAY GAMES with 4th 6th Chalkwell Bay Scout Troup and 3rd Chalkwell Bay Sea Scouts on the Urban Beach along the Thames. Included Yoke racing, Sedan Chair Racing and Tug of War.

11am / 1pm / 3pm
SEMAPHORE DISPLAY with 4th 6th Chalkwell Bay Scout Troup and 3rd Chalkwell Bay Sea Scouts. Messages from Southend sent around the site.

11am – 3pm    
METAL’s BUSKING STAGE with artists and musicians from Southend including:
Bearcraft, Rachel Rose Reid, Tuppenybunters, John Wedgewood Clarke, Lucky Strikes, City Shanty Band and The Seasiders    

5pm – 9pm    
THE SOUTHEND WALTZ TEA DANCE with dance workshops, Lorna Stevens on Piano, Oo Bop Sh’Bam and Paul Taylor’s Tea Dance Orchestra.

9pm – 11am     
EVENING FILM SCREENING with The White Bus on the Clore Ballroom Floor.  End the evening with the 1950’s classic, Barnacle Bill.