Ceremony Designer and Celebrant

30/10/2024

Gather is back! A new season and a new venue. Come and enjoy a cosy night offline with us on 20th November. Booking link below, please share with anyone you think would enjoy a few hours offline and let's help each other bring some joy, connection and balance into our lives.

We welcome you to Gather Offline at Cosy Club. Check in your phone and enjoy time to reconnect with yourself and others

09/09/2024

Really honoured to have been asked by Spark! - Chelmsford's cultural youth forum - to speak at the next Ignite Social on the theme of diverse creative careers and unconventional career options.

Looking forward to hearing more about their vision and future plans, as they speak on the importance of youth voice and share their experiences. And also to hear from fellow presenter Thom Barrett about storytelling, a strong shared theme in our work.

Please join us if you can. You can book tickets
here:

This month Spark! - Chelmsford's cultural youth forum - take over the Ignite Social

06/08/2024

For as long as I can remember I have always loved dancing so it made me smile during a walking meditation on my labyrinth facilitation course when the words that came to me were: ‘I came here to dance and lift up others’.

Dancing was mentioned a few times indirectly on the course which intrigued me as I kept imagining a beautiful outdoor labyrinth underneath a massive mirrorball. Most of what we discussed involved contemplative, meditative style walks. I wondered if walking labyrinths could also be a fun and joyful experience, after all creativity and renewal also comes from playfulness.

‘Today is your day to dance lightly with life, sing wild songs of adventure, soar your spirit, unfurl your joy’. (Jonathan Lockwod Hule)

The next morning listening to Lauren Laverne on BBC6 music I was taken aback when she played a track from her compilation of the week Labirintos by OZ Fam-a Brazilian disco tune. It seemed I was being encouraged to bring my love of music and dancing together with the labyrinth.

As part of the rave generation many of my moments of unity, community and connection have come from dancing with others. It taps into ancient traditions of singing and dancing together even if the music is different. I began wondering how I might bring labyrinths to some different settings and introduce these walks to a different audience. It seems I was not the only one thinking along these lines. A few weeks ago I visited Manor for one of Events . Not only was it a chance to dance with some great DJs but to walk their two incredible labyrinths with my family.

It was such a joy seeing so many people engaging and walking the labyrinths, with some even dancing around together. In fact these labyrinth walks were so successful they are organising another event in September-definitely worth a trip if you want to experience this beautiful site yourself: https://lnkd.in/eKByWZeu

At the weekend I celebrated my birthday at Situation Dance House. It was another beautiful example of how an open and inclusive invitation to come and dance together created a wonderful atmosphere of joy and unity. It was such an uplifting feeling seeing all kinds of different people of all ages dancing together in the sunshine. I found myself picturing a large labyrinth in the courtyard. When I got to the tube station I had to laugh seeing the Temple labyrinth sign on which someone had added the graffiti “Same song and dance". It felt like an encouraging message.

I would love to bring a labyrinth/block party style dancing event to Essex and am talking to a few people about how we might make this happen. Now more than ever I am drawn to creating experiences that connect us to ourselves and others in meaningful ways, bringing people together and creating joy. Hit me up if you are interested. I am really open to ideas and collaborations.

06/08/2024

An interesting experiment. If you want to try having a break from your phone come to Gather on 5th September at Fête Grays Yard and let's see what happens together. Book on eventbrite gather-chelmsford-offline-at-fete.

A group of adults agree to live without their smartphones for a week. How do they get on?

02/08/2024

So me and the lovely KKellie Amanda Jonesare joining forces with the amazing FFête Grays Yardto open up a space for in person connection. If you feel like taking a break from digital and the online world to regain a sense of joy, community and companionship please join us at Gather. First event 5th September at 7pm.

More details and booking below

We welcome you to Gather at Fête, our offline space. Take a break from digital to embrace in person connection, community and conversation.

18/05/2024

So grateful to everyone who helped bring this idea to life and so looking forward to what comes next. A day full of inspiration and connection.

08/05/2024

One of the interesting things about my own labyrinth journey has been connecting with people from all over the world, walking some existing ones and seeing some incredible new ones being built. I have been really inspired by the different ways they are being used and how helpful they can be.

Walking labyrinths has become an increasingly popular global method of reducing stress by integrating the mind and the body.

03/05/2024

The labyrinth is an ancient pattern found in many cultures around the world. Some patterns are 5000 years old with many based on spirals and circles mirrored in nature. Labyrinths are currently being used world-wide as a way to quiet the mind, recover a balance in life, and encourage meditation, insight, self-reflection, stress reduction, and to enable creativity and celebration.

I became interested in labyrinths through my interest in ceremony design and love of walking. I found that adding an element of movement into ceremonies really unlocked emotions and helped bring people together. The first labyrinth I walked was on my 50walks and walking for me has been a great way to connect to myself and nature, sparking creativity and bringing balance.

So I recently embarked on a 5 day course with Veriditas to learn more about this tool and how to share it with others. I am buzzing with ideas and will be in touch with some of you soon about potential collaborations.

Tomorrow is World Labyrinth Day https://lnkd.in/eXUzCQcw so you can see if there is an event you might like to join or check out the world wide labyrinth locator https://lnkd.in/eJyKZnPQ to see if there is one near you to walk.

I will be posting more about this work soon, please get in touch with me if you would like to learn more or add a labyrinth walk to your event or organisation.

22/03/2024

So excited about this collaborative event I am co-organising with Rosalie Kuyvenhoven and Kate Powis at The University of Essex.

For a while, Rosalie and I have been keen to organise a day where funeral and grief practitioners, artists, academics, event organisers and others could come together to explore new, creative and contemporary approaches to grief, remembrance and ritual. Having approached the University of Essex with a proposal we were thrilled when they offered to host a knowledge exchange event around this topic.

You can see a bit more about what we have planned in the flier below, including our key themes and format. We will be announcing the speakers we have confirmed soon but wanted to give you a chance to Save the Date.

As the University of Essex is fully funding this event, it is free to attend and includes lunch and refreshments.

When: 17 May 2024, 10am - 4pm
Where: University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park Colchester CO4 3SQ

We are currently finalising a registration page and as soon as it is available we will let you know. Meanwhile, if you are interested to attend, send us an email and we will notify you as soon as the official registration is open. Places are limited and will be issued on a first come, first served basis.

We are very excited about this collaboration so please feel free to share with others who may be interested.

As you know I love bringing people together and this is the third event I have co-organised to connect academics and practitioners-something the three of us are really passionate about. Looking forward to a day filled with information, inspiration, practical takeaways and new connections.