In September 2025, Medway will welcome the Baton of Hope — the UK’s largest suicide prevention initiative. As part of this programme, I lead a community art project in partnership with the Salvation Army in Gillingham. The project invited people from across the Salvation Army’s weekday groups — including older people, families, those experiencing homelessness, and others who attend craft and community sessions — to reflect on what hope means to them. Through conversations and creative workshops, participants have shared what helps them through difficult times.

These personal reflections have been the basis for a poem, written by local poet Jasmine Molineux, a film was then shot to illustrate the poem, with individual frames printed out and coloured by project participants. These hand-coloured images were scanned back in and to create a mixed media stop-motion animation.

The final film was projected at night in Gillingham and Chatham, bringing messages of light and encouragement into the heart of the community. It is also being screened at Halpern POP in Rochester 18th - 30th September, ensuring that the work reaches audiences across Medway.

This work is part of Medway Council’s Baton of Hope programme, taking place in the lead-up to the baton’s arrival in Medway on 22 September 2025.