Just a selection of the many events we’ve run at the Fishermen’s Chapel. See our ‘What’s on‘ page for details of current events.
The Chapel hosted a huge range of musical acts over the weekend of the Leigh Folk Festival, 24-26 June. We’ve got some pictures of the two male voice choirs who sang on Sunday morning. Thanks to Mike Garnell (see his website here) for the use of the photos. The two choirs were from Chapel-en-le-frith in Derbyshire, and the local choir from Leigh-on-Sea.
Leigh Folk Festival events at the Fishermen’s Chapel on Friday 24th June and Sunday 26th June
Friday 24th June
Ticket-only event – you can buy tickets here.
The Mudlarks Café Super Choir 8 to 8.30
Stick in the Wheel 8.45 to 9.25
Diamond family Archive Singers Project 10.10 to 11.00
Sunday 26th June
Main Chapel:
Leigh Orpheus Male Voice Choir vs Chapel-en-le-Frith Male Voice Choir 11.30-12.30
Nick Jonah Davis 12.40-13.10
Crafting for Foes 13.20-13.50
Woodland Creatures 14.00-14.35
Roshi, feat. Pars Radio 14.50-15.25
The Crying Lion 15.35-16.10
Alasdair Roberts 16.20-17.00
Nick Pynn 17.15-17.55
Laura Smyth & Ted Kemp 18.05-18.40
Jason Steel 18.50-19.30
Fishermen’s Chapel – downstairs hall
Culture as a Dare programme:
Pancake Promises 13.45-14.00
Hypnotique 14.15-14.45
Waterflower 15.05-15.35
Alex Monk 15.55-16.25
Ed Dowie 16.45-17.25
Urthona 17.45-18.25
Our Wednesday morning is now encouraging artists and independent business owners to meet at our pop up coffee morning. Jo serves very fine fresh coffee and home made cakes which appeal to different diets such as gluten free. Guests are invited to bring business cards or products to sell or just to pop in for a chat with like minded people. The mornings we have had so far have attracted people of many different professions such as gardeners, saxophonists, language teachers, life-style assistants, artists, textile artists, potters, musicians, cartoonists, yoga teachers etc. They have been very positive about the mornings, saying they left inspired and with more contacts. I am then promoting their businesses and events on social media.
The coffee morning is still open to children, adults and church members and we will welcome them to join in.
A note from Jo:
We will be hosting the new coffee mornings @ The Fishermen’s Chapel, New Road, Leigh-on-Sea. We’ll be serving gluten free banana bread, fresh coffee, teas and yes THE RETURN OF ELSIE’S FLAPJACKS! 10am-12pm.
We look forward to meeting new friends and catching up with old ones. All within a lovely setting that has local history at its heart, and that special community atmosphere we’ve so been missing!
Anchored: 30 minutes of contemplation and provocation for life through stillness / story / art / bread / wine.
We will announce future Anchored dates soon.
Saturday 12 December – we made lanterns at the Chapel before the carol singing at Strand Wharf.
Procession meets outside the Crooked Billet at 5.45pm to arrive at Carols at Strand Wharf at 6pm. Suggested donation of £1 per lantern. Hot chocolate and refreshments available. Suitable for all ages.
The Famous Potatoes and guests played at the Chapel Sunday 20 December 2015.
Fishermen’s Chapel, New Road Leigh-on-Sea, SS9 2EA. Find us.
Our Harvest fish and chip lunch was on 5th October at the chapel. Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date with future events.
(Harvest image by John Mcsporran on Flickr.)
As part of the Leigh Folk Festival, Wizz Jones, Jason Steel and Crafting for Foes played at the Chapel on Friday June 26.
A review by Ray Morgan is here.
“The chapel is a majestic venue; fairy lights lead the way through to the stage, and candles flickered as the audience drank cups of tea from nautical mugs. Wizz’s guitar playing really was sensational, and his music filled the chapel’s frankly gorgeous acoustics.”
Leigh Folk Festival information: http://leighfolkfestival.com/
Artist Sheona Beaumont, a visual artist based in the South West of the UK is going to be working with the Fishermen’s Chapel pulpit. We’ll let her explain in her own words:
Back in February, I found myself applying for the gift of a Methodist pulpit, which was being offered to an artist(s) by The Fishermen’s Chapel in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. My proposal met was met with enthusiasm, and follows below. Since then, with thanks to Trinity College, I have also been given two Methodist pews from the recently closed Wesley College in Bristol, who will happily join forces with the pulpit to form an even more exciting art work and installation. Once they’ve arrived at my studio over the summer, they will undergo a period of hibernation before the ideas below start to emerge…
This pulpit is a powerful and striking symbol of God’s word. To me, the clean design and structure of the object (as compared to, for example, the ornate stone ‘thrones’ of many a parish church) is something that needs to be celebrated. It bears in its image the specific focus of Wesley’s pioneering preaching of the word, which kept things simple. It also has fantastic resonance with Wesley’s peripatetic ministry, for being mobile. These two aspects of simplicity and mobility are what I would like to concentrate on with my proposal.
I would like to install in the pointed architraves (and possibly the lectern top area) a sequence of photographs or lenticular prints, so that it becomes a pulpit with photographic panels. I am keen to keep the look clean and clear, maintaining the integrity of the existing shapes and outlines.
The content of these photographs will have a starting point in one of my existing pieces of work, The New Passage, 2012, which is formed from the composite arrangement of photographs taken of the Severn Estuary, from the point at which the Wesley brothers crossed to Wales (as commemorated by a plaque at the site). Linking the New Passage with the pulpit from the New Road Methodist Church is the incredible geographical correspondence for having a near equal latitude, and for both being sea-facing sites. An east/west dimension is complemented by a north-facing/south-facing estuary view. In this respect, I would plan to create a photographic record of the tide at Leigh-on-Sea from the Fishermen’s Chapel itself at the end of September, when the autumn equinox brings the complementary highest tide to spring’s equinox (which is when my Severn Estuary pictures were taken).
I would later work with these two bodies of images to create a story of transition which could be ‘read’ across the face of the pulpit. The unique feature of lenticulars, if funding permits the use of this medium again, is the ability to engender a movement from the viewer, and therefore an engagement, which seems to me to reflect the intended effect of preaching itself. Extending this idea, and that of Wesley’s travels, I would want the finished pulpit to complete its own journey from New Passage to New Road, finding suitable stopping points on the way for display and engagement with the public. One such point would surely include the New Room in Bristol (where I have shown work before), and I would hope that others could include outdoor venues.
I am extremely excited by the opportunity to work with and on this pulpit, not least because it is a real gift and expression of faith in creative endeavour.
On Saturday 13 June Sandbanksy, ‘Just a bloke with a rake’, demonstrated how to create a labyrinth on Leigh Bell Wharf. The Labyrinth is an age-old discipline that nourishes the body, mind and soul.
Some pictures are on Facebook page here: Sandbanksy
This event is part of the Leigh Art Trail: http://www.leigharttrail.com/LAT%20Events%202015
Our Good Friday Blues Open Mic night took place on Good Friday, 3 April. Song and spoken word. Sign up for our newsletter if you’d be interested in similar events when we run them.