After a fabulous summer of events across the County, we have one last event up our sleeve for 2022. That is, our re-scheduled Rewriting The Archive Workshop, which, led by award-winning environmental writer Wendy Constance, will be taking place in Essex Record Office on 1st October.
The focus of Wendy’s writing workshop is Rising Tides and Essex Floods. Wendy has spent the summer delving into the Essex archives, unearthing documents and photographs relating to Essex flooding, including the tragic Great Flood of 1953, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people along the East Anglian coastline.
Essex had the worst of it. First to be hit was Harwich. Then Jaywick. Here, the storm swell threw chalets around like flotsam, the sea rising more than 3-foot in 15 minutes. Finally, Canvey Island, which was completely submerged by rising waters. It is impossible to imagine waking up in the middle of the night, your home rapidly filling up with freezing cold water, desperate elderly family and friends cut off two streets over, rescue teams banging on your door ordering you to leave everything behind and get into one of the waiting boats.
Essex has always been vulnerable to flooding, and with the Climate Emergency swiftly gathering pace, it remains much more vulnerable than most other parts of the UK. This is our collective story and it is important that we tell it.
Wendy’s workshop offers a fascinating opportunity to explore a selection of archive material – illuminating and inspirational – that explores the natural and social history of flooding along the Essex Coast. Using these as prompts, participants will be encouraged to write in whatever form: prose or poetry, fiction or creative non-fiction, or a combination, depending on where the inspiration takes them.
To book your place and for more information go to: eventbrite.co.uk/e/rewriting-the-archive-workshop-rising-tides-and-essex-floods-tickets