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Casting the first stones…
It all began in 2022 with pebbles in pots – a creative tool we at Start Thurrock used to get people to vote for what artforms they wanted to see or experience in their local area. People longed for opportunities to celebrate their local green spaces and their community – and circus-style entertainment stood out as being the most popular.
By 2023, we had supported seven Big Lunches and a Picnic In The Park, observing how the audience responded and interacted with circus workshops and acts that included hula hooping, juggling and tight rope walking. Each Big Lunch showcased different circus skills and, for the first time, we saw people travelling between wards to take part – a clear sign of growing community engagement.
At the final 2023 Big Lunch in Purfleet-on-Thames, Farm Yard Circus performed a show, with a sign language interpreter and disabled viewing areas making it a highly inclusive experience. Feedback showed that these features really mattered.
Taking people to the circus, and circus to the people
The next step in our circus journey was to take 35 residents to ‘Out There’ circus festival in Great Yarmouth. It was a big ask – an early Sunday morning start to travel to see something they’d never experienced before – but the enthusiasm from the group was overwhelming.
Post-trip, the residents shared which acts they’d most enjoyed, which ones they hadn’t, and what they wanted to see locally, which informed the programming for the following year’s Big Lunches. For those who couldn’t make the trip, we made sure they still had a voice by attending community events and asking them to vote on example acts they’d most like to see.
As a result, the 2024 Big Lunch events merged high-quality circus acts with other art forms like dance, theatre and Hip Hop, and we had performances from Mimbre, Simple Cypher, Sam Godburn and Revel Puck Circus.
Attendance grew significantly and the events started to build real momentum – it was clear people realised we were listening and shaping something that genuinely reflected their interests. It shifted from audience engagement to active community ownership with some residents even taking part in the performance with Autin Dance Theatre at Chadwell-St-Mary.
Perhaps one of the most meaningful shifts we witnessed was how participants began to engage more critically with culture – comparing, questioning, reflecting and articulating their opinions. One resident said they now felt they could speak more confidently and authentically to local people. Through the trips to see different performances, they developed their own cultural taste and began to consider how an activity could translate to Thurrock.
Community + support = success
Whilst everyone was enjoying the variety of performances at the Big Lunches, momentum was still building for a real circus big top. We’d been speaking to Revel Puck Circus about the possibilities of making this happen and invited them to a Big Lunch in 2024 to test audience response.
In spring 2025, we were finally able to make it happen, collaborating with Revel Puck Circus to bring the full big top experience to local residents for an 11-day run. It was our biggest project yet and thanks to community support and partnerships with local businesses, we were able to make it possible – it finally felt like we’d come full circle.
In the months leading up to it, we held a series of circus taster workshops with local students from Harris Academy, a scouts group in Ockendon, and residents who responded to an open call for participants via our Green Light programme – all facilitated by Revel Puck. Everyone was then invited to come together for an intensive day to learn circus skills and prepare an act they could perform as a curtain raiser at one of the big top shows. We also invited local dance schools to showcase their skills as additional curtain raisers for two of the performances and were delighted that Evans Academy of Dance and Canning Academy of Performing Arts were able to join us.
We put a call out to local businesses asking them to support the project, either through marketing or sponsorship. This revenue allowed us to offer tickets for free or at a low cost. These businesses ensured we removed financial barriers and made sure everyone in the community could be part of the experience.
We continue to build on the circus legacy and to explore new art forms through our Big Lunches, but the big top was a spotlight moment where all the community came together in one place, and where we opened the door for people who don’t usually have access to arts and culture.
