Programme Director Sam Jinks looks back on the Cobholm Island Beach party as part of Freshly Greated's February newsletter -

In many respects the Cobholm Island Beach Party, which formed part of the Friday night launch offer of the Out There International Arts Festival in Great Yarmouth, was a celebration of Freshly Greated’s first year of activity in Cobholm. The incredible outcomes achieved at the Beach Party, from a large colourful street procession led by giant puppet lips singing the Spice Girls alongside Cobholm Primary pupils, to local bands playing on a professional stage to a crowd of 800 onlookers, was a reflection of the strong working relationships the Freshly Greated project had developed within the community since late 2020.

The inroads began with bingo – Sam, Programme Manager for Freshly Greated, met many of our original Cobholm resident Producers by attending socially-distanced bingo nights at the local community centre during winter 2020. Over the coming months this small group of individuals would meet on Zoom to discuss ideas for future activity, whilst also taking part in remote activity such as writing a shanty about the infamous Floods of 1953 and making a mosaic sign for the community centre. Trust, confidence and membership increased in the months to come, eventually leading to 24 volunteers being on site from 8am to help set-up the Cobholm Island Beach Party. "The skate boards spelling ‘COBHOLM’ on the fence of the basketball court was a real highlight for me – the decks were made during four weeks of skate art activity in Cobholm during summer 2021, with over 150 decks designed and decorated alongside professional skate and street artists – this event really put Freshly Greated on the local communities’ radar, leading to fantastic art outcomes and many happy faces. Nearly 30 decks were donated by residents to help form the sign which 4 Producers worked tirelessly in the hot sun to assemble."

The night itself was manic but fantastic. The basketball court was full of face painting, t-shirt prints and spray can technique, with the main arena awash with laughter, lights and music. I was overwhelmed by the response of the community, both in terms of attendance and feedback afterwards. The Beach Party solidified Freshly Greated’s reputation for bringing fun, high-quality art which is relevant to the people of Cobholm, as seen when over 100 people came out to follow the Boom Bikes, made and cycled by creator Dan Fox, which projected animations on to the walls of buildings across the neighbourhood in October. Our evaluation data showed that not only did people from Cobholm attend their local event, they also came along to the shows which followed in central GY and Gorleston too.