On Friday 27th August, visual artist Hayley Louise Goodsell held a workshop at Metal Liverpool 'Online life drawing - how to draw strangers'. Participants were given materials and a drawing board and used the random strangers that came up on a Chatroulette style website as models.  

Chalkwell Hall Kitchen Garden is looking is looking green and lush from all the rain this week and last week and we are starting to enjoy the fruits of our labour.

The Kitchen Garden has four plots which are looked after by Metal, a group of willing volunteers from the local area, as well as the nearby Chalkwell Hall Primary School pupils who have taken on two beds as part of their curriculum learning. The last bed is used in the NVQ training for new recruits to Southend on Sea Borough Council Parks team and also some students on a short learning course at the local college.

If you are interested in helping volunteer sow, plant in, weed, water and share in the produce, or would like to find out more, please contact Grace by emailing This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by calling 01702 470 700

Metal Liverpool was featured live on BBC's breakfast show this morning! Liverpool director Ian Brownbill was interviewed by BBC reporter Susannah Streeter and theatre collective The Suitcase Ensemble performed in front of cameras as well as our resident artists Adrian Jeans and James Quin.

Watch a summary of the feature here.

Summer Sundays, 18th July

On the 18th July, Metal opened the doors to Chalkwell Hall for a Vintage Summer Sunday, which saw the dining room transformed to a 1940s inspired tea-room by artist Tanya Day Falco. There was plenty of cakes on offer for the public, aswell as board games for children, and big kids! Our project room was an artist-led workshop where anyone could come in and help build a paper garden. In the park, there were plenty of activities from NatureSpaceCreative and a drum workshop for members of the public to learn new skills. A big thank you to all those involved, and we hope to see many of you at the next Summer Sunday on August 8th 11am - 4pm.

The Insight into Culture 2010 was set up for 150 sixth formers from Southend High School for Girls.  The day consisted of 5 activities; Art & Collage workshop, Digital Photography trail, Kingdom of Chalkwell Treasure Hunt, Kitchen Garden discovery and Samba Music workshop. The students even got to experience what it is like to take part in Metal's 3 Minute Wonder presentations on their chosen country.  For the Art and Collage workshop was led by Debbie D'Auria, and involved gathering natural materials such as twigs and leaves to make a large picture of each groups chosen country. The Digital Photography hosted by NatureSpaceCreative wanted the girls to take pictures that represented their mood and feelings whilst in the park.  The Kingdom of Chalkwell Treasure Hunt involved small groups exploring the park to unscramble letters to find the secret Princess’s name in order to win a small prize back at the Hall.  The Kitchen Garden workshop led by EarthAngel, was based on two groups preparing a separate dish made from ingredients gathered from the garden and walking to local shops to find locally produced products. The Samba Music Workshop, which was led by SHSG, allowed the girls to experience playing new and different musical instruments and even become part of a large orchestra playing to people in the park. Overall, it was a fantastic day had by all and Metal would like to especially thank all the artists that helped and supported on the day and of course Southend High School for Girls for participating.

We had a fantastic Pecha Kucha Night Vol. 5 last night at East 15's Clifftown Studios in Southend on Sea.  We heard presentations from TV producer and visual artist, Grant Philpott (Harry Hill's TV Burp), poets Sundown Arts, Jules Easlea (Royal Opera House, Thurrock), David Anderson (Saatchi & Saatchi), writer and journalist, Tom King, artists Pat & Trevor and comedian Markus Birdman - all topped off with drinks and delicious food from My Kitchen.

June's Future Station meeting was a success, with attendees sharing their exciting proposals for the weeks 8th-20th November when Future Stationers will be showcasing their work of many different disciplines at Edge Hill Station.

We were delighted to have The Suitcase Ensemble treating us to a taster workshop for their upcoming project 'Sound Tracks' which is to begin in September. www.suitcase-ensemble.com

Unfortunately there is to be no Future Station meeting in July due to holidays. The next meeting will be in August date TBC, this is also the deadline for November proposals.

Metal's Guinness World Record ™ breaking length of bunting was put up on exhibition on Southend's Pier this weekend.  

Metal was helped to break the World Record on 27th October last year, by the Southend community - schools, community groups, WI groups, scouts and hundreds of interested individuals.  The bunting is 2,159.30m long (the length of the Pier itself) - breaking the previous record by over 600m - it has 9000 hand-made flags stitched to a continuous length of ribbon.

The bunting will stay up on exhibition until 21 July 2010.