A brand-new immersive art trail will be 'waddling' into Southend-on-Sea in 2025

June 18, 2024

Havens Hospices has revealed its next project will be 'Waddle-on-Sea,' following on from the success of Hares About Town in 2021 and Herd In The City in 2023, which raised over £1million for local hospice care.

The sculptures for Waddle-on-Sea will be penguins that will pop up across the city next summer. The large penguins will be sponsored by local businesses and created by professional artists. They will be accompanied by huddles of baby sculptures, adopted and decorated by schools, community groups and organisations.

At the end of the trail—created in partnership with Wild in Art—the sculptures will be auctioned to raise money for the free hospice care from Fair Havens and Little Havens, which thousands of local families rely on when diagnosed with a complex or incurable condition.

Vanessa Harvey, Project Manager from Havens Hospices, says, "Due to the stomping success of Herd In The City, I'm delighted that we can bring yet another sculpture trail to Southend, helping make art accessible to all. We'll be turning the high street and seafront into an immersive gallery, leading the way for visitors to get up close with the stunning creations, many of which will be local artists."

Managing Director and Co-founder of Wild in Art, Charlie Langhorne, said: “It’s great to be teaming up once again with Havens Hospices to create this new art trail - our third in the city. The penguin is a wonderful sculpture, and I have no doubt that it will capture everyone’s imagination and bring artists, young people, communities and businesses together to create something very special next summer.”

Artists can express their interest in participating by submitting their design ideas via the website - waddleonsea.co.uk. The website also provides more information for organisations that would like to sponsor a large penguin sculpture and schools and community groups who would like to adopt their own baby penguin sculpture.