Village Green is a multi-art form and music festival, produced by Metal Culture in the picturesque grounds of a beautiful Victorian park in Chalkwell, Southend on Sea, Essex.
A variety different stages, green spaces, rose gardens, cricket pitches, pathways and marketplaces offer up a pot-pourri of international music acts, theatre, spoken word, poetry, lindy-hop/ fox trot lessons and displays, outdoor arts, circus and cabaret, vintage acts, musical theatre, visual arts, comedy, improvisation, film, workshops and games all set against the backdrop of the enigmatic estuary.
A key to the success of the festival is the calibre of acts and the diversity of performances, which in previous years has included Wilko Johnson, Sam Duckworth, Stereo MCs, Rag'N'Bone Man, The Asylums, Youth Club, Tiggs Da Author, The Skints, Ballet Black, the Royal Opera House, Molly Nyman Harry Escott and the Samphire Band, Passenger, Billy Bragg, James Taylor Quartet, Camera Obscura, Carleen Anderson, Ed Harcourt, John Hegley and, local boy, Phill Jupitus jumping on stage with the Blockheads. But the strength of the annual festival is its family centred ethos - where children and adults can have fun with strictly NO face painting or bouncy castles – every activity is arts-led.
19:30-20:00-Spinnings Yarns Collective - Darker Ever After
20:20-21:00-The Dusty Peddlers
Compere Peter Monk
Inkhead
All day
Jacqson Diego Story Emporium
11:00-11:40- This is my book launch
11:00-12:00 | 13:00-14:00 | 15:00-16:00 - story craft with
Jacqson Diego Story Emporium
11:00-12:00 | 13:00-14:00 | 15:00-16:00 - Pip and Posy
Walkabout
11:40-12:20- Justin Coe: It's a Poem!
12:20-12:40-Karl Newton: I am a tiger
12:40-13:20-Ellie Irving: The Matilda Effect
13:30-13:50- Julie Irwin : Mission Improbable
14:00-15:00-The Wimpy Kid Show
15:10-15:30-Hollie Hughes: Ninjas & Pirates
15:40-16:20- Ross Montgomery: Space Tortoise
16:30-17:00- Jennifer Killick : It’s A Mystery, A Funny One
Village Green information & FAQs
Ticket Information
On arrival to Village Green, your ticket will be scanned and you will be given a wristband. You can leave the Event Site at any time but if you wish to gain re-entry then you must have your wristband on you before leaving at the exit gate and produce it on your return. To gain re-entry you will have to re-join the entry queues and you will again be subject to security checks.
Please note: THE LAST ENTRY TO THE FESTIVAL is 8PM.
Site Map
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Accessibility Information
To provide an event site which is accessible to all, Village Green are working closely with ATTITUDE IS EVERYTHING.
ALTERNATIVE FORMATS AVAILABLE
Village Green also have alternative formats of the access information available upon request. Again please contact them if you require this information in an alternative format.
ACCESS AROUND THE SITE
Village Green is situated in a beautiful Victorian park with good tarmac pathway and road systems running throughout, however many of the activities and stages are situated on grass fields. If you require assistance to access the grass field, please contact them prior to the event on chalkwell@metalculture.com
2 FOR 1 TICKETS FOR PERSONAL ASSISTANTS
Village Green provide a 2:1 ticket scheme for individuals who would be unable to attend Village Green without bringing a personal assistant. Please contact them if you require an additional ticket.
ACCESSIBLE PARKING PASS
Village Green have a very limited number of accessible parking spaces within the park for blue badge permit holders. These spaces will be allocated on a ‘first come first served basis’. Please contact them to book a space.
ACCESSIBLE TOILETS
Village Green provide a number of non-stewarded accessible toilets at Village Green.
SAFE SPACE
There will be a safe space at Village Green, located at the back of the Metal Art School. This will be open between 11am-6:30pm and will be staffed by Disability Awareness and Dementia Friendly trained volunteers. There will be a shade, somewhere to sit, a disabled toilet and an access to a sterile kitchen and fridge (if medicines need to be stored).
ASSISTANCE DOGS
Village Green welcome assistance dogs onto the site.
STROBE LIGHTING
There will be general warning signs around the 2 main stages if strobe lighting will be used. Due to the nature of the artists it is likely that strobe lighting will be used throughout the performances.
SIGNAGE
The'll have large print versions of the programme available at the Info Stall. It will also be available to download in a Word Document and PDF versions.
MEDICAL SERVICES
There will be three First Aid points on site and mobile First Aiders will also patrol the site. If you require more information, please get in touch.
FREE TICKETS TO ADVANTAGE C HOLDERS
If you have an Advantage Card C, you might be able to pick up a free ticket from Southend on Sea Borough Council - Civic Centre on Victoria Avenue.
HOW TO CONTACT Village Green
email: villagegreen@metalculture.com or
telephone: 01702 470 700
Travelling to/from the festival
There is no parking within the festival site at Chalkwell Park and very limited residential parking in the surrounding area.
We reserve around 20 spaces within the site for blue badge users. These can be booked in advance and will be held until midday on the day. Please call Metal on 01702 470700 for further details.
We advise walking, cycling (there are lots of cycle parks within the park) or public transport. Chalkwell Park is well served by both buses and the c2c trainline as follows:-
Buses
First Buses: 26, 27, 27a, 28
Arriva 1,5
Other bus services 3, 3a, 3b, 3c, 174, 560, B1
c2c
For Village Green – alight at Chalkwell Station – Chalkwell Park is a short 8-minute walk from here.
Trains run from London Fenchurch Street Station to Shoeburyness every 20 minutes.
Village Green was created by Metal in 2008 - a year after we first moved to Southend. We had taken up residence in Chalkwell Hall and were busy renovating it to create a hub for artists, community and creative ideas.
Southend was a town that was full of underground creative energy, sub-cultures, music and an edgy, down-to-earth beauty along the Thames Estuary that is often found where stunning natural landscape meets industry. A large number of arts activities were going on but there was no annual showcase where everyone got together to show off, to each other, and to audiences from further afield.
Those of you who have been to Chalkwell Hall will know that it is in the middle of the beautiful Victorian municipal park, Chalkwell Park – the perfect spot to host a festival and ask everyone to contribute to a showcase of what Southend was up to creatively. And so the first Village Green came into being. To our mind, Chalkwell Park is the urban equivalent of a traditional Village Green and so we called the event by that name to signify the intent behind the atmosphere we wanted to create – a family friendly, creative day that the whole town turned out to take part in.
In that first year, the event attracted an audience of 8000. It was linked into the national Cultural Olympiad celebrations leading up to the games in 2012 and was awarded one of the first London 2012 Inspire Marks. By 2013, audience numbers had reached 31,500 with more than 500 artists from Southend, the UK and overseas – and over 80 Southend community groups – taking part. Audiences were travelling to Southend from all over the south east region.
Safety considerations around audience numbers, and respect for the Park and our neighbours have meant that over the years we have needed to introduce a ticket entry system and other small changes, but the essential essence of the event remains the same – a fantastic and eclectic day of arts and music with something to entertain and surprise - for all the generations of your family.
Ideas like Village Green don’t catch on as quickly as it did unless they hit the right zeitgeist of the moment for a town. The Southend community continues to come together to support it, take part in it – and make it the great event that it is. Along with other activity, Village Green and the people who come together to make it happen, has helped to kick-start a buzz about the culture of Southend which has grown and grown over the last 10 years.
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