Big Sparks

The Friday Night Project: Free rehearsal space for young musicians Young musicians in Southend have nowhere to go. All rehearsal studios charge fees and feel like adult-only clubs. The Friday Night Project will open The Song School every Friday, giving 16-21 year olds free access to fully-equipped band rooms and recording space to rehearse and connect. No fees. No barriers. Just young people making music, building community, and preparing for futures in Southend's thriving music scene. This is where the next generation of artists begins.

We would like to offer group therapy sessions to carers and loved ones of clients living with Dementia. The sessions will offer emotional support as well as practical support and signposting. We would like to offer group therapy sessions to the carers/loved ones of the clients that attend our Dementia Day Centre and other members of the community. The sessions will offer emotional support as well as practical support and signposting. Most of our clients live independently still and are looked after by a spouse or other family member. This can be a huge strain on the unpaid carer and there is very little support out there for them. We would like to give them the opportunity to talk about their short- and long-term worries and concerns and to get support from others that are living with the same kind of pressures. Carers of people that have dementia often talk about 'losing ' the person they have known, maybe for many years and one of the aims of these sessions will be to explain and to help people come to terms with the changes that dementia can bring.

City Family’s “Nature Nurtures: Intergenerational Play Programme” will provide four seasonal outdoor sessions where children, parents, and grandparents can connect through play, learning, movement and nature exploration. The activities for each session will be designed and based around the season in which it takes place. Across the West Central ward, a high number of families experience significant levels of isolation, health inequality, carer strain, and limited access to safe outdoor play. Many older adults in this ward live alone, while many parents rely heavily on grandparents for informal childcare. Carers frequently report stress, low wellbeing, and a need for community support. Local outdoor spaces are underused, and many families lack confidence, time or resources to engage with nature independently, especially during colder seasons. Our Nature Nurtures Programme aims to promote physical activity, mental health, community inclusion, and intergenerational respect, while also signposting families to local health, housing and support services. Our project will use a preventative health approach and will directly support the priorities of Living Well, Caring Well, and Ageing Well.

Haven Hub Portraits’ is a community portrait project open to all at the Haven Community Hub on Hamlet Court Road in Westcliff. Come along and be photographed at one of several fun pop-up sessions, be part of a community exhibition inside the venue, and receive a free print to keep. Help celebrate the people of the Haven Hub and Westcliff!

Memory Clouds brings calm, connection and hope to carers and people living with dementia in our community. Through gentle touch and simple massage, small workshops teach techniques to help carers ease stress, nurture emotional bonds and create moments of joy with their loved ones. With cloud-shaped reflection tools, journals and guided exercises, participants explore emotions, celebrate small victories and take home practical skills that ripple out to families and the wider community. The Touching Moments podcast shares inspiring real-life stories of care and connection through touch, spreading understanding and warmth across the neighbourhood. Memory Clouds is the first project of its kind here, offering carers the support, confidence and emotional space they need to make everyday moments meaningful.

At HARP Made on Hamlet Court Road, Creative Threads will give the people we support and local residents a welcoming space to create side by side. With your vote, we can spark new friendships, reduce isolation and bring new energy to our high street.

The Hamlet Court Beeline is a project to create a beeline super-highway for bees, butterflies and other insects by hanging nectar rich hanging baskets throughout our local high street in Hamlet Court Road. Throughout the spring and summer seasons the bees and butterflies will be able to fly throughout the road stopping off at each feeding station, supporting the local wildlife eco system. This will bring planted beauty and environmental care to the whole community using the road, in turn supporting the future of our local high street.

I wish to help others in my community with mental health issues. By means of connecting people by yarn and provide a place where people can be their selves despite life's struggles.

Our Creating Together weekly art and craft activities will provide and affordable and accessible way in which a diverse range of people can come together and make things that that make the feel better about themselves in a safe, supported and fun environment.

We will provide an weekly 1.5 hour art and craft session all year round for up to 10 people. The focus of our provision will before older people, and for people with sensory impairments, mental health issues, learning and/physically as well as for the general community as we want to help people integrate and the wider community to understand the challenges that some face. In the first instance we use engaging in creatives as the reason for people to come together, so reducing social isolation. We will offer creative projects that help participant try new things and get better at what create.