Check out our Here to There Programme in South Tyneside.
Arts and Health / Ageing / Carers / Community / South Tyneside
Facilitated by artists and creatives across three locations in the North East, we invite you to engage with the programme, tap into your creativity, and socialise with locals over a cuppa. See what has happened so far…
Participants had their fair share of heritage, history and pure hilarity with our Helix Arts Here To There programme for people over 55 recently when we thumbed through the pages of South Shields past with our cheery chatty host, retired director of The Customs House, Ray Spencer who took us on a tour of the Customs House and covered a multitude of themes from funding to fishing, stagecraft to steamboats, Yemeni workers and economic riots, the tale of the torso in the tank and the reopening of the old mortuary in the 80s, and of the famous folk of South Shields!
Then we laughed ‘til our faces ached and our cheeks fizzed at comedian Scott Bennett and his trials and tribulations of life. So funny.
It was a perfect day. Who can say on a Saturday that they’ve laughed all afternoon with a bunch of people they didn’t know in the morning?
That’s connection, and the joy of Here To There!
Yesterday our wellbeing wanderers dodged the drops and had an accumulative creative experience walking the cliffs and shores at Whitburn, wandering around the nature garden and lighthouse at Souter. Everyone was full of sketches and smiles by the end of the day.
Being in the perfect place to experiment, to play, and to record what catches your attention, our intrepid artists really worked with open minds and got into the groove of sketching nature on the hoof.
People tried shading, scumbling, using the edge or even the wrong end of the stick. There was loads of noticing going on — the stones, boulders, pebbles, cliff-top grasses, the sea and the sky, or the school kids down by the sea in their bright yellow and blue waterproofs.
Participants shared their views and comments –
“I live close by and it’s years since I’ve come down here — it’s really beautiful.”
“Drawing’s addictive, isn’t it?”
Inside the lighthouse eight people went up to the halfway landing, seven made it to the top. Whooohoooo! A day of achievements.
The group wandered out to the Wild Flower Nature Garden where they switched to water-based dual-ended markers to explore the forms of poppies, cornflowers, thistles, ox-eye daisies and more. They explored how adding a little water can change the quality of the line — soften it, move it around, make washes and talked about adding tone by picking up pigment and shifting it around the page.
Everyone had different tales to tell about how they’d arrived at the wellbeing wander. Some were carers who had had no time for self-care or self-expression and had found it during the session. Some had experienced health challenges which had prevented them from getting out and on, and today, the group came together and wandered with creative purpose
Everyone seemed relaxed, confident, and comfortable drawing.
A treasured lasting comment was “I walk along here all the time. Without a purpose to let my thoughts wander. Now, because I’ve made this, the next time I see a flower I’ll really see it. I’ll really look.”
Working with CREST’s Chai and Chat for Men, we held a series of tasters offering a range of artforms. Exploring and sharing experiences through art, the group enjoyed trying mosaic, creative writing and visual arts.
Participants even took a inspirational trip to Arbeia, South Shields Roman Fort with musician Gareth Davies-Jones. Gaining inspiration, the group wrote their own short song about the trip.
