As I look out of my office window, across the river to Burnham-on-Crouch, it looks like a Spring day - sun shining, grass green and a male blackbird rather hopefully chasing a female around the farmyard. Yes, the sap is rising unseasonable early and signs of a new season are all around us!With this hope of brighter days ahead come plans for the year's event season and piles of booking forms for marquees and portaloos. 2012 will be an exciting year for Essex , with the Olympics on our doorstep and the world's TV and sporting eyes on the area. But here on Wallasea Island, which is only an hour from Stratford's olympic arena, we could be a million miles away and will have enough excitement of our own . This year, at long last, visitors will finally see signs of construction of Europe's largest inter-tidal habitat creation project. Contractors BAM Nutall will return in the spring to continue the erection of the unloading facility for Crossrail's material which is expected to arrive by ship from July. To celebrate and showcase this activity, we have planned a calendar of events to entertain all sorts of visitors. In March, we will hold our first 'Wallathon'; inviting people to come along, with families and friends, to walk, run or cycle round the 8 mile bounds of our site - while they still can. These bounds will be broken in 6 places in years to come, with the flowing tides making much of it marshland and the new seawall paths will not circumnavigate the island.One event that we hope will become an annual fixture though, is our Wild Coast Paddle. last year 75 kayakers paddled right around the island, and we hope even more will join us in June this year. In July, we will have an official launch event with a variety of key stakeholders and friends of the project which will no doubt begin a long relationship with TV cameras and the media at large.Our now well established Wild Coast Weekend will be our grand finale for the summer. Brought forward to mid August this year, in the hope of catching the family holidaymakers and good weather. It will include all the favourites such as Woodford's hog roast and George's Wallasea Wench ale plus many new attractions still to be unveiled. Watch this space for regular updates as the season progresses.If you would like to check out the events in more detail they are all on our events page.
I've gone wild on Wallasea!