People across Southampton are being invited to take part in a city-wide walk starting and ending in Bitterne Park, alongside a larger-than-life puppet, to shine a spotlight on wellbeing.
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Walk With Us, run by Touch Network and Luke Brown Dance, is on Sunday, May 22.
It will “bring the community together to celebrate getting through a difficult few years” according to organisers.
Along a seven-mile loop from Bitterne Park to the city centre and across the Itchen Bridge, walkers will “take part in creative actions, reflect together on what brings them hope, and make new friends – including Daniel, a larger-than-life puppet who hands out gifts of handmade dandelions”.
“Wherever Daniel walks, he brings a moment of calm and shared hopefulness,” said Daniel’s creator and puppeteer Luke Brown.
“After the past 18 months, we all need reminders that we are wonderful, resilient dandelions – flowers that can grow anywhere and thrive even in hard places.”
Walk With Us marks six years of Touch Network running storytelling evenings in Southampton.
“We know that our events have changed lives by sharing and celebrating people’s own stories of resilience,” said Touch founder Debs Carter.
“We’re hoping that Walk With Us will help raise funds so that we can keep offering our events free of charge.”
The walk is open to everyone, and people can choose which parts of the day they want to join in with. The programme for the day and tickets can be found at www.touch.network/walkwithus.
“It’s so powerful when we say publicly that we’ve struggled in life, and connect with others to find a way through,” said Debs. “That’s the message we want to spread across the city, that none of us are alone, even on the hardest days.”
Previously
Local group offers activities to help ‘combat isolation and pandemic burnout’
