On March 4th 2020 about 20 people assembled at the Ferryboat Inn (many thanks to Golden Sands Holiday Park for lending it to us) to explore Citizen Science possibilities. As with our other meetings this was very ably led by Jack Sewell of the Marine Biological Association.

The beach in Mablethorpe has rather different features to the sites of the two previous workshops; above all, there is a plethora of shells, which made for a fascinating comparison.

The aim of the game was to develop ideas, inspired and put forward by the local community, for projects that could be explored by all age groups. Plenty emerged - and after a process of distillation the results will be shared with whoever wants to engage with them. Stand by...

On March 3rd 2020 about 20 people gathered to spend the day in the Platform, the splendid venue based on the former railway station near the Morecambe seafront. It was a grey day, and rather a damp one, for the session outside exploring the marine life near the bell (fortunately it was low tide).

There was an excellent briefing on the subject by Jack Sewell from the Marine Biological Association. After the session exploring the foreshore near the bell the afternoon was spent developing ideas for a citizen science project linked to the bell.

As with the meetings in Appledore and Mablethorpe a number of very promising ideas were put forward for a programme of Citizen Science activity, which will be considered, distilled, and shared with whoever from the group who is interested as soon as possible.

Most people reading this will probably know that there is a substantial, growing and deeply committed group of artists whose work aims to have a focus in some form on climate change. Whether it can be read as a cry of pain (e.g. the observation that ‘scientists can shout, artists can scream’) or as a more measured, nuanced or intellectualised response, there is a vast range of work that has a bearing on the subject.

In 2005 I started out in this field, forming an organisation eventually called TippingPoint, inspired in part by Bill McKibben’s observation: But oddly, though we know about it, we don’t know about it. It hasn’t registered in our gut; it isn’t part of our culture. Where are the books? The poems? The plays? The goddamn operas? 

TippingPoint worked primarily in the UK, but also across the world, holding events that brought over 2,000 artists into close contact with climate researchers of one type or another, all with a view to stimulating conversations, collaborations – whatever would help inspire new work. We had no prescriptions or expectations of the people who attended, we simply wanted to create an environment in which new ideas might develop. We also commissioned over 25 new pieces of work, mostly theatre pieces.

My original hope for TippingPoint was that we would act as midwife, or marriage broker, to something that might emerge as a twenty-first century version of Silent Spring. After a while I concluded that given the cacophonous media times in which we live it was unrealistic to expect a single piece of work to have comparable impact. So I settled on a lesser ambition, of helping to bring about as much work as possible that would contribute to a rising tide of insights, revelations – and screams – that would help wake us up to the subject.

And I think that has happened. Recognition of the severity of the issue is currently at an all-time high (let us hope, devoutly, that it is sustained); this is due to many factors, including the weather, Greta Thunberg, David Attenborough, and much more. But I cherish the notion that what is often called ‘the cultural response to climate change’ has played its part, and this will continue. The countless artworks that have emerged don't, of course, tell the story simply, still less do they interpret or help communicate the work of scientists, as many of them wished; but they have created that rising tide.

I claim no part in the conception of the Time and Tide Bells, which is wholly due to Marcus Vergette. But he came to several of TippingPoint’s events, and it became clear to me that these are not only very powerful sculptures, but that the ethos that surrounds them, the fact that they are a gift, without strings, to the communities that host them, and that they have the capacity to stimulate further work of a broad range, tells exactly the right story for our times.

And I think that if you listen to them really, really carefully, you can hear the sound of the sea level rising.

Peter Gingold

February 2020

This bell features much the most complex and informative Interpretation Board of any of the bells. In particular it focusses on the change in sea temperature caused by climate change. That is of concern to all, of course, but is of especial concern in Morecambe Bay, where it appears that problems with the extremely important local fisheries may be linked to changes in sea temperature.

The bell is very accessible - as long as it isn't high tide. It's immediately adjacent to Churchfields car park.

We have a number of downloads which we hope you will enjoy and find useful when you are with your children on the beach.

A simple guide to identifying things you find on the seashore is here. (Welsh language here).

Here is a guide to the main jellyfish around the British Coast (Welsh language here).

And here is a guide to identifying different types of seaweed.

These cards are designed for children in Pre School and Reception: download here (Welsh language here).

Cards for Years 1 and 2 (KS1) are here (Welsh language here).

They are designed to continue to develop childrens’ understanding of numeracy, whilst playing on the beach. Research tells us that ‘learning though doing’ or ‘practical maths’ dramatically aids understanding.

The cards are written around the current (2019) English Curriculum and cover most aspects of the numeracy curriculum. They should be revised regularly, to build on learning elsewhere. The words have been carefully selected, to help children to develop their mathematical language, which is a focus in schools and the English curriculum.

We hope you and your child enjoy using them.

Juliette is working with local schools and home education groups to tailor resources directly for their needs. If you are a school or home education hub near to one of our bell sites, please get in touch We can tailor most of our resources to suit your needs.

Teacher packs will include: a short lesson plan with curriculum links, differentiated resources for children to complete and an activity guide. These resources are available to download, for free, via google docs, once your school has signed up.

Seashore surgery

This is an exciting project where teachers and students (usually Y3 and/or 4, but other years groups welcome) commit to 4 visits to the beach each school year. They take part in an eco-system deep dive; investigating animal life, flora and fauna and the different tidal areas on the beach. The school record their findings and share them with the project team and with marine biologists working with us. This data then informs research looking at the changing marine life around the UK. Each school will be able to access the data from everyone taking part and compare finds, as well as use the information to generate their own local questions. Citizen Science at its best!

Click here to join up.

School beach schools

We have some suggested STEAM activities that schools can use to engage children on the beach. These offer curriculum links, session plans and follow up resources that help children to understand tides, weather systems, local habitat, wind, as well as a few chemistry experiments and learning about colour and light. Some of these activities are shown on our blog and can be completed in a classroom or on the beach, others involve a visit to the beach to be completed.

To request these, please click here.

Uniquely, this bell is mounted beneath a working pier

Installed early in October 2019, this bell now has a new wave-catcher, made from carved oak.

This bell has an opening cut in the dock above, to allow close observation of the mechanism. It is normally covered by a grille.

Is it strong enough to have a bottle of champagne smashed over it? The answer is yes, easily.

Included a band

in this small community was very well attended...

This bivalve is widespread in coastal waters and on the ocean shelves of the North Atlantic. In North America it is usually called the Ocean Quahog (pronounced ko-hog).

Arctica islandica dates back to at least the early Cretaceous about 135 million years ago. Individual Icelandic Cyprines live for hundreds of years, the oldest living non-colonial animal known. One specimen was 507 years old when it died. Their shells have growth lines rather like trees, which record the years and the environmental conditions. They are being studied to help reconstruct as sequence of climate changes in the past.

Our greenhouse gas emissions not only cause global heating and sea level rise, the increased carbon dioxide absorbed by the oceans' waters leads to acidification, a lowering of the sea water's pH. This will have devastating effects on ocean biodiversity, making a major contribution to the Sixth Mass Extinction, the beginnings of which we are now witnessing. The Icelandic Cyprine, however, can survive high levels of CO2 in the water, having survived the end-Cretaceous mass extinction and the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) 55 million years ago. Even if we manage to drive our own species to extinction, this little clam is likely to survive us.

Look out for Arctica Islandica on the beach. You might walk over a thousand cockles, mussels, oysters, razor clams, piddocks, tellins and gapers before spotting an Icelandic Cyprine, but when you do, it may be the shell of the oldest creature you've ever seen. And it's descendants may have a longer future than humanity.

The Lincolnshire Bell lies at the heart of an impressive range of arts activity, led by the Lincolnshire Time and Tide Bell CIC's Artistic Director, Biff Vernon. This example is of Warming Bells, an exhibition at the North Sea Observatory, Chapel Point, Lincolnshire, in August-September 2019, with the following theme:

We are a group of artists and arts promoters who recognize the potential existential threat of global warming and are determined to use the arts to communicate our concerns to our audiences.

To keep up with what else is happening, and the group's broader arts programme, follow both their website and their Facebook page.

The bell will have an entirely new design of structure supporting it - illustrated by Marcus Vergette.

The bell will be located at the rocky, Eastern end of the shingle beach, which itself is just beyond the large breakwater that creates Brixham marina - all a few minutes walk from the centre of Brixham. There is a lively cafe on the beach. There is a brief video on the beach here.

The sound of the clay dryers at the West end of the beach reveals the breadth and depth of the involvement of Imerys Minerals Ltd in Par - as employer and also through the channels, no longer used, through which ships used to pass. Their works show in the background of this photo.

At high tide the bell is some way out to sea....