Walks - Conference - Refill Quest - Yoga - Arts - Beach Clean - Rock & Blues Concert - Eco-Fair
Activities & Events
A wide range of exciting events is available to celebrate all aspects of water for everyone to enjoy throughout the10 days, along Eastbourne seafront. The main focus will be on walking to visit and use the Refill Stations along the route.
Full information about events follows below, and you can click to see our walking events, conservation events, health and wellbeing events, and celebratory arts events. You can view all event listings in chronological order here.
Celebrating 'Spring Water Way'
The Spring Water Festival celebrates our water, our beach and our network of Refill stations, located along some of the 19km of Eastbourne's seafront and coastline. By providing free mains 'spring water' we can raise awareness for everyone to 'refill' reusable water bottles and reduce the amount of single use plastic, to help protect our environment.
Water - A Precious Resource
Our Downlands is a precious resource, as the rain percolates down into a vast chalk aquifer that provides the town with about 75% of its fresh drinking water. Through Refill App and Refill Eastbourne, we launched our campaign to expand the network of Refill stations in the town in January 2019, with the first Refill Station opening in the Enterprise Centre. This Festival is an important opportunity to celebrate this initiative and to encourage further expansion. We welcome everyone to download this free app and to use it.
OPENING CEREMONY
Friday 13th 10:00-11:00
SOVEREIGN HARBOUR
Friday 13th May start at 10 am in Defiant Sports Inclusion Hub. This is located in Sovereign
Harbour Retail Park BN23 6JH
This event is by invitation and by emailing plasticfreeeastbourne@gmail.com
The ceremony will be followed by 2 events organised by Defiant Sports (please see below)
The Mayor, Cllr Pat Rodohan will open the festival
Have a go on an adapted bike/ hear about our walking and cycling project
Friday 13th, 11:00-12:00
Leader: Loretta Lock
GUIDED HARBOUR WALK, NATURE SPOTTING
Friday 13th, 11:00-12:00
Leader: Loretta Lock
1 hr yoga, 5 mins Marine Biology talk, 25 mins beach clean up
Friday 13th, 14:30-16:00
Location: Beach 24
DRONE FILMING BY TITAN 360
Friday 13th-22nd
Titan Technology Group Ltd led by Alex Hayter
Titan 360 create a high‑quality, immersive 360 virtual tour of any business, event, or property. Our unique and bespoke technology helps you create the most powerful marketing tool to increase your exposure.
We specialise in providing our clients with cutting-edge, one-of-a-kind, immersive experiences that gives a realistic sense of actually being there. Our 360 virtual tours can be viewed on any device (desktop, mobile phone, tablet or VR headset) and they are available on & offline 24/7.
WALK TO VISIT REFILL STATIONS
We encourage you to take photographs of yourselves at each Refill Station you visit and then share them on our FB group: "Plastic Free Eastbourne".
You can either look out for these Refill Stations as you walk along the seafront or use the Refill App on your Smartphone to find them.
Please use our Refill Stations to top up your refillable drinking water bottle. This could be as an individual visit, a walk to several Refill Stations
or a whole walk along the whole Spring Water Way.
13th-22nd
By Jill Shacklock
THE REFILL ONLINE QUEST/TRAIL
You can join our online quest at any time during the festival. The trail starts at Eastbourne station and ends at the seafront.
Your mission is to help two unusual visitors make their way back to their ‘ship’, keeping them supplied with local knowledge, a sprinkling of history, fresh water and absolutely no single-use plastic.
You’ll need a smartphone with reasonable battery life. No need to register.
RUNNING TO REFILL
Sunday 15th 08:30 Start
RunWednesdays are looking forward to being part of The Spring Water Festival 2022 for the second year and are pleased and happy to help promote the water stations which are a fantastic addition to Eastbourne Seafront.
ECO-FAIR
Saturday 14th 09:00-16:00
Location: Western Lawns
Our Eco Fair is new this year. It will be found on Western Lawns ~ between the Big Wheel and Bistrot Pierre. It starts at 9 am and will last until 4 pm. Everyone is welcome. There will be a group of stalls with one thing in common: aim to improve the quality of our Planet. Here are some of the participants, Plastic Free Eastbourne, Eastbourne Greenpeace, Vegan Society, Strandliners, Marine Conservation Society,
Breatheasy, Thunderhawk Apparel, Eastbourne Climate Coalition
Saturday 14th, 11.00 – 15.00
Drop-in - Families - Free Event
An (un)Natural History: Plastics
Join us to celebrate Eastbourne’s Spring Water Festival 2022 at Towner Eastbourne. Join local artists Ismini and Kate for intergenerational workshops and explore the colour blue alongside natural and manmade objects found on the beach, repurposing and recycling them into creative pieces.
Anything we can’t repurpose will be documented and displayed while we discuss and reflect on what we can collectively and individually do to minimise plastic waste in our water.
This workshop will run alongside Towner’s current exhibition Eileen Mayo: A Natural History.
Participants are welcome to bring their own found (natural and unnatural) material to the workshop.
Photo Credit (Rob Harris)
Towner @ Eastbourne Spring Water Festival: Film show ~ "River"
Film screenings:
Thursday 19th ~16:30
Saturday 21st ~ 14:00
Sunday 22nd ~ 14:00
For details and to book tickets, please ~
Location: Towner’s Cinema, which re-opens in May, following a period of capital works in the foyer areas.
CREATIVE COMPETITION
Closing Date: Friday 13th May
PILGRIMAGE - EXPLORING THE HISTORY OF THE
"OLD WAY"
Monday 16th 10.30-13:00
The Holywell to Beachy Head Circular Walk is a pilgrimage that starts from the Holywell Tea Chalet and goes to the Holywell Spring, where participants can have a few minutes of contemplation and reflection before moving on - past some prehistoric tumuli - to Beachy Head and paying a visit to the Beachy Head Story and the Eastbourne Downland memorial, before walking back to Holywell via the Bomber Command Memorial.
Friday 20th 10:30-13:00
The Pilgrimage around Saxon Eastbourne starts at St Mary the Virgin Church in Old Town for a short period of reflection and contemplation before proceeding to Motcombe Gardens and the site of the Motcombe Spring. The walk then continues through Old Town back to the Lamb Inn to cross the road into Manor Gardens, visiting the pond and other sites there, and finally returning to the church.
The TOPIC for this competition is “THE SEA"
You can respond to “The SEA “in one of 3 ways:
· Creative writing: Story
· Creative writing: poem.
· Factual or creative approaches expressed via film.
Although Plastic Free Eastbourne works to protect the environment, entries do not need to have an environmental theme. We are seeking all types of creative responses.
There is NO minimum or maximum word count. Videos should be NO longer than 10 minutes in length. Each entry including video must be the original work of one entrant although a video entry may feature interviewees or presenters.
Copyright remains with the author but a condition of entry is agreeing that entries may be published on the Plastic Free Eastbourne website and/or featured within the Spring Water Festival. There is no entry fee.
Entries will be judged in the following age groups:
Key Stage 2, Key Stage 3, Key Stage 4 & 5, Adult (over 19)
There will be ONE overall winner in each age group but there will also be a number of Highly Commended Awards.
Prizes have been donated by our supporters.
Please contact Sue Dixon suedixonjwg@gmail.com if you have any queries.
WORKSHOP & STORYTELLING
Leader: Tania Long from Compass Community
Sunday 15th More info TBC
The Marine Conservation Society is the UK’s leading marine charity. We work to ensure our seas are healthy, pollution free and protected.
Our seas are under immense pressure: too many fish are being taken out, too much rubbish is being thrown in and too little is being done to protect our precious wildlife. Our vision is for seas full of life where nature flourishes and people thrive.
The Marine Conservation Society’s work covers 3 main areas - Clean Seas, Ocean Recovery and Fisheries and Aquaculture. Within this and as part of our public engagement and community efforts we have a fantastic volunteer team and carry out work including citizen science surveys such as Beachwatch beach cleans and litter surveys and the Big Seaweed Search, campaigning for a healthier ocean and highlighting the importance of our Marine Protected Areas.
Wild Coast Sussex is a partnership project led by Sussex Wildlife Trust, with Marine Conservation Society, Sussex Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority and Brighton Sealife and funded by the National Heritage Lottery Fund, thanks to money raised by National Lottery players. Over the next three years, Wild Coast Sussex aims to inspire and connect people living in coastal Sussex to their local sea and encourage people to act in more ocean-friendly ways.
BIG SEAWEED SEARCH
The Big Seaweed Search is a joint initiative between the Marine Conservation Society and the Natural History Museum. We will survey fourteen key species of seaweed known to be indicators of climate change and to help track the arrival of non-native and invasive species.
This Big Seaweed Search event will include information on how to identify seaweeds and conduct the survey, plus information on uploading the data and the option of how to become a Big Seaweed Search Champion. Do you know your knotted wrack from your spiral wrack? Or your wakame from your wireweed?
We can show you!
To join in either of these activities please email the Leader ~ Kate Whitton.
kate.whitton@mcsuk.org
She will provide all details.
Saturday 14th: 17:00 -18:00
Location: Wish Tower Beaches by the Lifeguards Museum.
Big Seaweed Search event on Eastbourne beach. Meet outside the entrance to the Bistrot Pierre restaurant at 4.30pm (next to the takeaway van). Look for Claire in the green sunhat.
Sunday 15th: 17:00 -18:00
Location: Holywell Beaches
-
Big Seaweed Search event on Holywell beach. Meet on the beach opposite the Holywell tea chalet at 4.30pm.
-
3pm onwards - Compass Arts Event and Story-telling on the beach opposite the Holywell tea chalet - everyone welcome.
BIG BEACH CLEAN
Sunday 15th - 14:00 -16:00
94 Beaches are included and please go to this link or email ray.adoptabeach@gmail.com to take part.
Strandliners’ volunteer activities range along the coast from the River Cuckmere in the west to Dungeness in the east; from Pett Level and Camber Sands on Rye Bay, up the River Rother to Crowborough, Hailsham and beyond.
Strandliners survey for plastic pollution through identification, and record the data for organisations including the Marine Conservation Society, Surfers Against Sewage and Break Free From Plastic.
If we want to stop plastic pollution, we need to know what it is and where it comes from. By creating a data-rich picture of environmental pollution, we can begin to put the steps in place to stop it. Beach cleans are great for awareness, though they are only a stop-gap.
To scale up the local effort, Strandliners CIC has launched a Community Action Team programme, with support from the United Nations Climate & Oceans, to train volunteers as citizen scientists and team-lead volunteers in their local communities to join the fight.
MICROPLASTIC CHALLENGE
Event duration: 1 hour
We are inviting you to discover this horrendous but yet fascinating world to gain vital identification and forensic skills. These skills can help to create a data rich picture of what the plastic pollution really is and then can help speed the necessary change needed to reduce the harm to the environment.
Saturday 21st May at Holywell
10.00 - 11.00 am & 13.00 - 14:00
All equipment will be provided.
Just bring your inquisitive mind & discover the trash & treasures that wash up from the sea.
Sea beans & fishing tags from the Americas,
Nurdles & Bio-beads from our plastic production,
Lego & container spill items too!
HARBOUR LITTER PICKING
Friday 20th - 11:00-12:00
Location: Defiant sports inclusion hub and around the sovereign harbour
Come and join us for a fun walk from the Defiant Sports Inclusion Hub, around the harbour and back whilst looking out for rubbish and other bits to keep our harbour clean! (Litter pickers provided)
Free Tea or Coffee for all helpers!
Festival Feast
Sunday 15th ~ 18:30
Location: The Crown and Anchor
The 3-course meal costs £24 including tip ~ this is a deal from the regular price.
There is a children's menu too If you would like to join in, please email plasticfreeeastbourne@gmail.com. We will send you the menu options for you to choose from and ask for a £10 deposit.
This should be a great evening in relaxed and convivial company.
SOUTHERN SPIRIT ROCK CONCERT
Friday 20th 18:30-21:00
Location: The Crown and Anchor Function Room
Fundraising Rock & Blues Concert
Local Group “Southern Spirit” will be playing an evening of songs and music upstairs in the function room of the
Crown & Anchor ~ 15-16 Marine Parade BN21 3DX
Tickets: £8 each available from:
Online ticket seller + Fee = £9
plasticfreeeastbourne@gmail.com £8
Eastbourne Tourist Office + Fee = £9
the Crown & Anchor itself £8
WIGHTMAN AND
PARRISH LITTER PICK ~ private event
Thursday 19th and Friday 20th 09:00 am
Location: Princes Park, meet at Perch cafe (Thurs) and Western Lawns, meet at Lifeboat Museum (Fri)
Waterweek Together Clare Whistler and Charlotte Still have been following water, an organic process wondering where, being with and thinking about “water will take them”. Looking for ways to learn more, share their experiences and convey their rapidly growing concerns and reverence for water led to the creation of Waterweek, a now annual public event.
CLOSING CEREMONY
Sunday 22nd May, 15:00
This event starts at 3 pm at Holy Well.
This location can be reached by foot along the beach towards Beachy Head,
from the Holywell Tea Chalet BN20 7XB
The shingle provides some difficulty for those participants who are unsteady on their feet. For these people, caution will be needed.
This event is by invitation and by email to plasticfreeeastboure@gmail.com
The Mayor, Cllr Pat Rodohan will close the festival.
Everyone is welcome!
CLOSING CEREMONY
Sunday 22nd May, 15:00
This event starts at 3 pm at Holy Well.
This location can be reached by foot along the beach towards Beachy Head,
from the Holywell Tea Chalet BN20 7XB
The shingle provides some difficulty for those participants who are unsteady on their feet. For these people, caution will be needed.
This event is by invitation and by email to plasticfreeeastboure@gmail.com
The Mayor, Cllr Pat Rodohan will close the festival.
Everyone is welcome!
Celebrating Spring Water way ...
Walk along Spring Water way ... Eastbourne Refill stations
Walk along Spring Water way ... Eastbourne refill stations
Publicity
See the interview with Oliver Sterno and Radio Sussex discussing the Spring Water Festival.
Plastic Free Eastbourne are delighted to be collaborating with a wide range of stakeholders and local businesses from around the town, including:
Beachy Head Story, BHASS EXPLORE, Compass Community Arts, Dark Horse Marketing, Eastbourne Borough Council, Eastbourne Friends of the Earth, Eastbourne Strandliners, East Sussex College Group, EcoAction Network, Marine Conservation Society, Refill, South East Water, Southern Water, Surfers Against Sewage and United Nations Association.
ORGANISERS:
Oliver Sterno ~ The Walk and related Activities
Sue Dixon ~ History
Andrew Durling ~ Pilgrimage
Fenya Sharkey ~ Arts and Exhibition
Rachel Cunningham ~ Publicity
Cllr Colin Swansborough ~ Council representative
Please contact us to register your interest in helping, or setting up any events or activities.