Children and families invited to get creative and explore Medway’s history this summer.
Last weekend, Chatham Carnival and bOing! marked the start of a packed summer of cultural events and activities for children and families in Medway.
The Chatham town centre takeover forms part of Medway Culture Fest 24, a year-long cultural programme celebrating Medway’s people, places and stories.
This summer, local and national creatives, heritage organisations and community groups will bring Medway’s stories to life as part of Medway Culture Fest 24. Children and families can explore Medway’s rich history and get hands on with creativity and culture across the area. The festival marks 40 years of culture-led transformation in Medway, a period which has seen the former Chatham Dockyard transformed into a thriving heritage site, university campus and creative hub and Medway become one of the most exciting cultural scenes in the country. The Medway Culture Fest 24 programme is coordinated by Creative Medway in partnership with the local cultural sector, community organisations and Medway’s three universities.
Exciting family fun events this summer
The exciting summer of family activities kicked off on Saturday, 6 July with Chatham Carnival and bOing! taking over Chatham High Street with a day of performances, creative activities and family fun. The carnival included a parade led by Phil Gallagher from BBC’s Mister Maker as well as a giant animatronic DJ Disco Turtle, coming to Medway from Glastonbury! The day included performances, demonstrations, live music and stalls throughout the day as well as children’s craft activities inside the Pentagon Shopping Centre celebrating Chatham icon Thomas Waghorn. Visitors sampled the incredible global cuisine found across Chatham Intra’s fabulous independent restaurants at the Chatham Intra Food Market.
Other programme highlights include Rochester Cathedral’s commemoration of 900 years of the Textus Roffensis, one of the most important Medieval manuscripts in Europe. Families are invited to get up close with a new 68ft dragon installation suspended in the Cathedral nave and made from 12,500 embossed metal scales by artist Wendy Daws with the help of local communities. Families can also explore the history of the Middle Ages through a school holiday programme of puppet shows, storytelling, craft activities and a riddle trail.
Elsewhere in the programme families are invited to get creative and celebrate cultural diversity at Medway Culture Club Carnival on Saturday 3 August. The day draws on the traditions of the Notting Hill Carnival and the legacy of the Windrush generation in Medway with a float procession, carnival dancers and reggae, soca and calypso DJs, live music, food and face painting. Families can take part in headdress making, dance classes, learn steelpan, and much more.
Families are invited to explore 400 years of Medway history at The Historic Dockyard Chatham where a new immersive detective challenge ‘The Game Is Afoot’ invites children to become Dockyard Detectives and solve a real-life crime from 1887. Families can also enjoy free creative workshops each Wednesday during the summer holiday. A new must-visit exhibition in partnership with the Royal National Lifeboat Institution celebrates the 200th anniversary of the RNLI lifesaving charity and invites families to discover the heroic tales of the men and women who have risked their lives to save others at sea.
To mark the 40th anniversary year of the closure of the working dockyard and as part of Medway Culture Fest 24, The Historic Dockyard Chatham is offering special £2 Universal Credit and Pension Credit tickets to local residents.
Families are also invited to enter a Medway Culture Fest 24 prize draw for a free family day pass by liking Creative Medway and The Historic Dockyard Chatham on social media and messaging Creative Medway with the words ‘FAMILY PRIZE DRAW’.
Families visiting from outside Medway can explore Medway’s many other heritage sites, castles and museums by downloading the Visit Medway tourism app or planning their visit on the Visit Medway website. Sites including Upnor Castle and Fort Amherst are running family school holiday activities and families can explore life on the home front at the Royal Engineers Museum with opportunities to make a ration book, identity card and gas mask as part of their Concrete Castles exhibition this summer.
For local families, Icon Theatre’s free Theatre Club offers children the chance to explore acting, movement, storytelling, puppetry, art and music. Sun Pier House’s Artbank is offering free art materials for Medway families and Medway Libraries are running arts and crafts activities over the summer holidays alongside the Summer Reading Challenge. Children who read six books over the summer holidays can claim a medal and certificate, as well as prizes and stickers for every book read.
Families can also follow clues to track down a series of fantastical creatures hidden in Medway community spaces as part of Child Friendly Medway’s Magical Creature Trail touring Medway
libraries this summer.
David Stokes, Vice-Chair of Creative Medway, said: “2024 is a significant year for Medway and there is so much for families to do and explore here this summer, from performances and dance workshops to art installations and exhibitions. Medway Culture Fest 24 celebrates Medway’s creativity, communities and stories. The programme showcases what a great place Medway is for a family day out, whether you are travelling from across Kent or visiting the places on your doorstep. We invite visitors and locals to explore the best Medway has to offer for families as part of the Medway Culture Fest 24 programme this summer!”
David Sefton, Artistic Director of the bOing! Family Festival, said: “We are thrilled to be bringing bOing! to Medway as one of many cultural events and activities this year as part of Medway Culture Fest 24. bOing! has been delighting and enthralling families in Canterbury for 10 years now, and it’s fantastic to be able to bring all the energy and excitement of the festival to Chatham once again.”
Richard Morsley, Chief Executive of Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust, said: “The Historic Dockyard Chatham has been an important part of the lives of Medway people and the nation for over 400 years. This summer during the 40th anniversary year of the closure of the working dockyard and as part of Medway Culture Fest 24, we invite as many families as possible to visit us to experience climbing aboard historic warships and connecting with the stories of the past through fun, interactive activities. This year we are offering £2.00 Universal and Pension credit day tickets for
locals and a family pass giveaway to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to visit. With exciting new children’s detective activities, free creative family workshops, the RNLI 200 anniversary exhibition and a new photography exhibition celebrating our journey over the last 40 years, there is plenty to do whether you are returning or visiting for the first time.”