The Beckingham Marshes project is funded by The Heritage Lottery Fund and at the project's inception, we signed up to deliver various community engagement activities. One of those activities was engaging with a local theatre group to deliver a theatrical performance that celebrated the project and the surrounding community.
We've been very lucky to have the Kismet Theatre Company already working in the local community http://kismettheatrecompany.com/ and they have taken on the writing and production of this performance.
It's due to be aired to the public in September this year, but during the run-up, Kismet will be running various workshops to raise awarenes of both the performance and the reserve. This is where local textiles artist Julie Willoughby http://zoomorphia.com/ and her 500 frogs step in! The idea is that people make their own fabric frog and upload an image of it to the 500 frogs Facebook page. The frogs will then hopefully come together for September's performances!
Julie and the Kismet team ran a very successful frog-making workshop last Sunday, for members of the Performing Arts Club St. John's (PACS ) http://www.performingartsclubstjohns.co.uk/, another local group that we've been working with over the last few years. Julie has already run a workshop with Morton Sewing Group recently too, so we're well on our way!
If you'd like to contribute a frog, full instructions can be found here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/202019349/500-Frogs-Challenge