Summer Gathering

Imaginative projects and experiments designed by local people, cultivating curiosity, everyday creativity and care for all life.

Dudley Creates

Join us on the banks of the River Stour to contribute to a community-led, co-created project seeking to deepen connection with the river.

8 Birmingham St

Our Summer Gathering, Bringing the Stour to Life, is an invitation to contribute to <a href="https://www.riverstour.org/" title="https://www.riverstour.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">a community-led project of that name</a>, which emerged through Dudley People’s School for Climate Justice conversations in 2024.📍We will meet at the pay &amp; display car park at 8 Birmingham Street, Halesowen, B63 3HN⏰ Please arrive by 6pm, we’ll head to the river shortly after that.💧We’ll meet the river at the bottom of Great Cornbow, and travel upstream with the water, behind the back gardens of Grange Crescent and through Seth Somers Park.🧺 We’ll make a temporary base camp in the corner of a meadow with picnic blankets. Feel free to bring your own picnic.See <a href="https://colabdudley.notion.site/Summer-Gathering-229081d1aa10805a8cbacf1b58b2c1a4?source=copy_link" title="https://colabdudley.notion.site/Summer-Gathering-229081d1aa10805a8cbacf1b58b2c1a4?source=copy_link" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">more information</a> about meeting points and what you can do.‼️Please note: There are no public toilets on the walk along the Stour or in our gathering place. If you join us for the evening you will be away from toilets from over 2 hours.

Our Summer Gathering will bring together people already involved in the project with local creatives and anyone who is curious and would like to spend an evening with the river.What to expect<ul><li>A welcome and introduction to the <a href="https://www.riverstour.org/" title="https://www.riverstour.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Bringing the Stour to Life project</a> from the initial creator, Colin Maltby.</li><li>An invitation to embark on a journey of connection, perhaps using one of the five pathways to nature connection. Or maybe simply spending time with the river in your own way.</li><li>Create art or poetry; ecologist Dawood Sadiq is offering a poetry writing session or poetry reading.</li><li>You might alternatively like to contribute to the river survey, Colin will explain how.</li><li>An opportunity to get involved with Workshop 24’s <a href="https://www.gettingintohotwater.org/" title="https://www.gettingintohotwater.org/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Getting Into Hot Water</a> project, an art based inquiry into water and climate change locally.</li><li>Time to talk, listen, wander, smell, create, connect, share stories and make memories.</li><li>A copy of The Nature Connection Handbook to keep.</li><li>An invitation to take, read and pass on and a copy of our featured Share Book for this Gathering, Rob McFarlane's Is A River Alive?</li></ul>

What to wear and bring<ul><li>Your own drink and food if you wish (we won't be providing any)</li><li>Sturdy footwear suitable for riverside terrain.</li><li>Sun protection (a hat or head covering, suncream, sunglasses)</li><li>A waterproof coat if rain looks likely.</li><li>Layers of clothing that can keep you at a comfortable temperature as the evening draws in.</li><li>Clothes you don’t mind getting a bit mucky in, if you go off exploring along a mile stretch of the river.</li><li>A small blanket / picnic blanket / sit mat if you’re likely to spend time sitting (with the river and/or in conversation)</li><li>Art / writing materials that you can use on the go, if that’s your thing.</li><li>Stories, knowledge, poetry etc. to share.</li></ul>

You’re invited to contribute to the Summer Gathering<ul><li>Do you already have a relationship with or connection to the River Stour that you’d like to share at the Gathering in some way?</li><li>Have you or might you write a poem inspired by the river?</li><li>Have you already our would you like create some artwork to show people?</li><li>Would you like to undertake an act of care during the Gathering, such as collecting litter?</li></ul>If so, let us know when you sign up and we’ll get in touch from early July.

The River Stour meanders for 30 miles between St Kenelm’s Church near Romsley, through populated towns and neighbourhoods (Halesowen, Cradley, Lye, Stourbridge and Wollaston) then west and south through farmland and Kidderminster, finally feeding into the River Severn at Stourport-on-Severn. The vision of the project is to catalyse a River Stour Community; local people who will collaborate to sensitively introduce, improve, enjoy, protect and preserve the river. There is already a growing group of enthusiastic river guardians who have been sharing many and varied knowledges through meet-ups to survey, photograph and learn about mile long stretches of the river.

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Summer Gathering

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Summer Gathering

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