Wild About Kirkley at First Light Festival

We are enjoying returning to face-to-face sessions with our Wild About Kirkley project and working with participants to develop the community garden at the Kirkley Pantry. It is a pleasure to work with the people of Kirkley and we have many exciting upcoming events.

Lead artists Kasia Posen and Carrie Phoenix (collaborative duo the Third Person @_the_third_person) have been working hard putting together the activities that we will be offering as part of the First Light Festival. We will be running creative workshops to help us explore our soils. You will be able to find us in the Planet Positive tent on the beach and we are delighted to have Professor Brian Reid joining us from UEA. Brian is a Professor of Soil Science, and will be helping us to understand the soil under our feet, and offering the opportunity to take a closer look through a microscope.

Prof. Brian Reid said “I am delighted to be involved with the First Light festival. Soil is so undervalued and not properly understood by so many. I am really looking forward to meeting people to discuss all the wonderful things soil does and to dive into the microscopic world of soil life”. 

Would you like to analyse your own samples through the microscope? Why not bring along some soil from your garden, and find out what your soil is all about?

In addition to this, Wild About Kirkley is running several foraging walks during and around First Light Festival, running throughout the duration of the festivities. We welcome you to come along, as we’re sure you will find the walks restorative and uplifting, especially in such good company. They will take place on the following dates:

Wednesday 15th June – Kirkley Ham Circular – 10.30am – 1.30pm

Start Location: Kirkley Centre, 154 London Road South, Lowestoft, NR33 0AZ.

Thursday 16th June – Beach Walk – 1.30pm – 4.30pm

Start Location: Kirkley Centre, 154 London Road South, Lowestoft, NR33 0AZ.

Friday 17th June – Parish Paths Wander – 10.30am – 1.30pm

Start Location: The Pantry Garden, Kirkley Church Hall, St. Peter’s Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0LJ. 

Saturday 18th June – 12 noon – 4pm Creative Activity at Planet Positive with Prof. Brian Reid soil scientist from UEA

First Light Planet Positive Tent, South Beach, Lowestoft, nearest postcode for the festival site is Lowestoft NR33 0HY. / Kirkley Pantry, Kirkley Church Hall, St Peter’s Road, Lowestoft, NR33 0LJ.

Information on how to get to the First Light Festival can be found here: https://firstlightlowestoft.com/your-visit/

Tuesday 28th June – Sensory Forage Walk, accessible for wheelchair users – 11am – 1pm

Start Location: Kirkley Cemetery, London Road South, Lowestoft, NR33 0PD.

If you would like any further information on each of the walks and what to expect, please follow through to our Wild About Kirkley timetable here. < https://www.suffolkartlink.org.uk/waktimetable/ 

All sessions and walks are free, but pre-booking is essential to guarantee your place. To book your place on one of our foraging walks, or if you have any further inquiries, please email Kasia at kasia@suffolkartlink.org.uk or call 01986 873955.

Access Information:

The entrance to the cemetery is wheelchair accessible, our routes are on the central tarmac path. Two optional routes take you approximately 10 meters on a hard ground, short grass path. This would change if the weather has been wet.

Parking:

Street parking is available on London Road South, Lowestoft, NR33 0PD. Distance to starting point is within 200 meters roadside. https://goo.gl/maps/nJk22iaYsAikzWbU8 

A car park is available, the distance to walk to the starting point is approximately 400 meters, which will be on a slight incline for the first 200m. https://goo.gl/maps/HQn5fLQzFZnDB3f16

Wild About Kirkley is funded by Arts Council England and Suffolk County Council