Purfleet is not a town famed for integrating events but this week the Royal Opera House's High House venue (the place where all the opera sets are designed and built) held a creative event for children and managed to make it really quite special at that.
The High House park is split into a succession of barn like spaces and in each they laid on kind, helpful and enthusiastic volunteer staff to aid the children get into design, for example drawing costumes based around various operatic productions that High House had recently catered for.
Here children were encouraged to design a costume for theater productions, were introduced to digital projection technology (basically the ability to target high resolution projection at finely defined spaces all with a computer) they were encouraged to choose and try on various costumes all previously used in opera productions in Covent Garden over the years, and were even introduced to young artists and film makers Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn currently in the process of filming a movie and art instillation to be screened at High House in the 2017. For those with an eye on Halloween there was a pumpkin design class, for which the actual free pumpkin carving event is here on Sunday 30th October and clearly a hit with the very small children.
High House is primarily a working space for the Royal Opera House but its barn spaces are rented out for venues like weddings etc, clearly what this organisation needs to do more is host and more earnestly promote these kinds of open events as High House is one of the most agreeable spaces in Thurrock to dwell in. Its position is high enough to provide amazing vistas of the river, the Queen Elizabeth bridge and all the graceful boat traffic sailing silently by, they have taken the time to ensure the garden areas, from where you can take in these views, are perfectly manicured and would easily rank as among the best open gardens in the Thurrock, they even have a cafe that has resisted the urge to become a portentously expensive cafe in a way that its surrounding would clearly justify in today's climate.
Spend anytime in this environment and the question beckons why its not more busy? Its all so serene and pleasant, the answer may lie in the fact that High House doesn't market these events very robustly, whether that's by design or by accident in not clear, what is clear is that locals should track this venue more closely because its one of the nicest places to pass an afternoon in Thurrock.
Source: Source: ingrays.com
