PAST PROJECTS
WELCOME HOME TO ESSEX
APRIL 2026
A campaign by Essex County Council and Visit Essex to boost tourism and investment between Essex and Virginia Beach in the US. The aim was to highlight the many historic connections between the two places, including the traceable Essex ancestry of Virginia's founders, WW2 links, and the Essex lineage of American presidents.
Teaming up once more with filmmaker Thomas Winward (The Essex Ways), we produced "Welcome Home to Essex", a three minute short film to capture the soul of the county. With assistance from Culture Essex and the Essex Film Office, we visited some of Essex's most historic locations, charming landscapes, and met a huge variety of Essex residents. I wrote the storyboard over a single weekend and the complex filming schedule was arranged on the fly. It was a mad week around Essex, but Essex weeks often are!
The video was presented to a delegation from Virginia Beach, who also visited Essex in April 2026. It now serves as a reminder of just how enticing Essex can be: whether from Viriginia or otherwise!
CHELMSFORD STORY TRAIL
FEBRUARY 2026
Part of the Essex Podcast Festival, set up by the Chelmsford Business Improvement District to celebrate Essex's capital city, highlight its heritage and draw more people into Chelmsford city centre.
I researched (and was blown away by) the stories from over 4,000 years of Chelmsford's history, which transformed the city of my birth from a pleasant shopping experience to a historical and architectural marvel. I shared these stories in an immersive 14-stop story trail around Chelmsford city centre. During the festival, walkers could scan QR codes placed around the city to summon a virtual version of me telling the story of 14 places around the city centre.
The trail and videos were also accessible by an online digital map, so people can enjoy discovering the surprising history of Chelmsford for years to come.
THE ESSEX WAYS
2025-2026
Like the rest of Essex, I’m fiercely proud of my home county. The media love to spin a one-dimensional idea of what the county is all about: they do say "The ONLY way is Essex" after all. But I believe that Essex is one of the most fascinating counties in England. You only need to scratch the surface to find amazing stories - and the stories we discover, the closer we get to the true soul of this great county.
That’s why in 2025, thanks to funding from the Essex County Council Art & Cultural Fund, I undertook an epic 400km walking journey through the many ways of Essex. Over 21 days I walked through (and wild camped in) some of the remotest regions of Essex; from deep rural countryside to desolate coastal marshes; along with towns and villages that represented the huge demographic variety of the county. Along the way, I collected as many stories as I could, to prove that there's much more to Essex than meets the eye.
The stories I gathered were shared in a variety of formats. A series of 14 storytelling walks in different locations around the county; a film, The Essex Ways, produced by fellow Essex boy Thomas Winward; a book, 'The Essex Ways: A Walker's Guide to the Stories and Legends of England's Most Fascinating County' with over 200 stories, 22 hand-drawn maps and 42 bespoke walking routes; interviews with Essex residents submitted to the Essex Sound & Video Archive; and a social media series with over 3 million views.
This project has been my love letter to Essex: the land which raised me and made me the man I am today. It was so successful that it lasted a year longer than it should have done! I've never been prouder to be from Essex.
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WHEEL UP THE YEAR
2024
Once upon a time, the people of Britain celebrated 8 holidays throughout the year. We still celebrate some of them today; Christmas, Easter, Halloween. For each holiday there was a festival; the 8 festivals were known as the Wheel of the Year. These are regaining interest in modern times as a way of celebrating the rhythm of the seasons and being close to nature. Celebrations often involve bonfires or candles, food, and gentle music. But what if there was a way to celebrate these ancient holidays in an even more modern fashion?
So I came up with my own celebration of the seasons. Wheel Up The Year: a series of eight DJ sets, overlaid with spoken word poetry. Each of these sets took place on a different festival throughout the year, in a different wild location; beaches, fields, caves, rainforests; each close to nature in their own way. Each of the 8 sets had a different musical theme to reflect the energy of the season and their location. It wasn't pipes and flutes; but I believe that if our ancient ancestors had access to amplified music, you can be bloody sure they would listen to it at these communal celebrations. This music may not traditionally be thought of as nature-friendly - but I believe, with the right intention, that music can be a potent blessing back to the land. Our ancestors certainly would have thought so.