Melanie is a craft artist, specialising in yarn – from cross-stitch to crochet!
She has designed a crocheted ‘shrimp-trail’ hunt which is placed throughout the route of the Light Festival, as well as an incredible crocheted installation of an underwater scene.
The trail itself consists of 50 crochet shrimp placed around the route, each with a label. The labels will include a shrimp name and a social media link for people to tag when they post their pictures of the
shrimp they have found.
Melanie ran two crochet workshops prior to the event, offering people the chance to get involved on the making of the trail by crocheting their very own shrimp to contribute.
Why a shrimp trail?
Bawley boats were a common sight at Gravesend during the 19th Century.Fishermen would catch the infamous brown shrimp, cook them on board the boats and sell them to visitors who flocked from London to enjoy the delicacy of a shrimp tea. During the peak of popularity, about 70 Bawley Boats were working from Bawley Bay, next door to St Andrew’s Mission Church.
