ACROSS the Thurrock community residents have been coming together under the banner of the borough's T100 Walking, Talking and Making Festival, organised by Purfleet-based arts company Kinetika.

This weekend in Grays and Tilbury, under strict social guidance conditions, creative and thought-provoking pieces of art have been put together in Grays and Tilbury.

The festival – much changed in format because of Covid-19 – was postponed from July to September and during that time, Kinetika artists have been connecting with groups across Thurrock and further afield including Kolkata and Marseilles to inspire and encourage people to get creative.

At the heart of activities in Thurrock has been the creation of Mandalas, geometric configuration of symbols intended to have a spiritual link.

In Grays yesterday one large Mandala was created on the Thames riverside and featured large amounts of material recovered from the river and its bank by local conservationist volunteers.

Among them was Steve Catchpole, River Action Clean-Up Facilitator for Thames21 River Action Group who has organised many litterpicks across the borough.

He told Thurrock Nub News: "A slightly different day yesterday (Saturday, 19 September) than was originally envisaged, but we got the Mandala finished before high tide. With Kara the artist and Ali from Thurrock100 Walking Arts Group directing and Katie keeping us socially distanced and Sharon and I pushing the wheelbarrows again!

"Special thanks to all those who had collected the "Plastic Gems" over the last year. Also thanks to Antonio and his team at Thurrock Council who supported us again yesterday.

"Many of the white discs in the Mandala were designed and made by children from the local community.

"The five life-rings and black trays were filled with thousands of sorted coloured pieces of plastic such as bottle tops, cotton bud sticks, lollypop sticks, pens, disposable lighters etc.

The wheelbarrows were filled with some of the 68,309 plastic bottles we have collected in the last four years. The ring of bottles and aerosol cans represented the 30,439 bottles and over 500 aerosol cans collected in the last year.

"18 hard hats rescued from the river were included to represent the 50+ hats collected in in just 12 months.

"Shoes, footballs, tennis balls were also included to represent the 1,824 sacks of rubbish picked in the last 12 months by 673 volunteers who attended 92 events.

"In total, in the last 4 years we have held 246 litter picks filling 5,604 sacks including the 68,309 single use plastic bottles in the stretch of river foreshore between Rainham and Tilbury.

"Hopefully the mandala event will encourage a conversation about the amount of plastics, especially small pieces, that are being found on the Thames estuary foreshores and how plastic dependency can be reduced.

"Based upon accurate dating of some of the plastics we know that some plastic items being deposited on the foreshores during major storms are between 35 and 45 years old. The question we are asking is where have these plastic pieces been during this time?"

There will be at least four more Mandala creation events.

They are:

Tuesday 22 September - IN OTHER PEOPLE'S SHOES: TAKE A WALK

Wear someone else's shoes for the day, what does it feel like? Take a favourite pair of shoes and share stories with family or friends, reflecting on journeys travelled on foot, then design a shoe mandala. What happens when walking?

Wednesday 23 September - IMAGINATION OUR NATION: IN YOUR MIND.

Creativity, wellbeing and mindfulness can make dreams come true! Have fun and think about what other materials Kinetika could use for mandalas by sharing the things that matter.

Saturday 26 September – RENEWAL: IN YOUR GARDEN/STREET

Turning landfill into a community park, where insects and wildlife can thrive again. Make a mandala to create a natural habitat in your garden.

Sunday 27 September - GROW YOUR OWN: IN YOUR GARDEN/ALLOTMENT

Sustainable communities, how grown vegetables and plants, foraging, living a healthy lifestyle. Make a mandala from local produce or home grown food. Plant seeds for the future and share dreams for a world that is changing.

These will be shared online and inspire people at home to make their own mandala following these themes and then share on facebook, twitter, or Instagram with the hashtag #T100calling.

Bubbles of six can get involved at home, in a local green space, in a garden and with their community. Kinetika director Ali Pretty said "Let's see how creative Thurrock can be to keep us going through these challenging times."