Meet the people joining Plymouth's Tide Café conversations
What does a weather presenter, a fisherman, a Coastal Ranger and an artist have in common?
They all experience Plymouth's tides in completely different ways.
Over the coming weeks, Tide Cafés will be popping up across Plymouth, bringing people together for informal conversations about the sea, the tides and the many ways they shape the city around us.
There are no presentations, no lectures and no specialist knowledge required.
Instead, there will be tea, coffee, cake and plenty to talk about.
Joining the conversations will be people whose work and lives have given them very different relationships with Plymouth Sound; from watching the weather and working at sea to exploring marine wildlife and creating art inspired by the movement of the tide.
But they aren't there simply to tell you what they know.
They want to hear what you know too.
Perhaps you fish, swim or sail.
Perhaps you walk the same stretch of coastline every week.
Perhaps you remember Plymouth Sound looking different when you were younger.
Maybe you know exactly when a favourite beach disappears beneath the water, have wondered why one tide seems much higher than another or have simply found yourself stopping to watch the sea come in.
Those observations, memories and questions are all part of the conversation.
Meet some of the people around the table
Emily Wood
Emily worked as a local weather presenter for more than 15 years, sharing weather information, including the tide times, on radio and television every day.
Now working as a journalist across social media platforms, she continues to share stories about weather and our local environment.
Having lived and worked around Plymouth for more than 20 years, Emily has a strong connection with the city's coastline and will bring her knowledge of weather, tides and the environment to the conversation while hearing what other people have noticed too.
Phil Robins
For local independent small-boat commercial fisherman Phil Robins, the sea isn't simply something to look at. It has been part of his working life.
Phil has worked with the sea locally, nationally and internationally and is passionate about seafood, sustainable fishing, conservation and our marine environment.
Closer to home, he has worked with Plymouth Fishing and Seafood Association and Plymouth Sound National Marine Park, visited schools, supported youth angling sessions and contributed to community projects including FoodSEqual Plymouth and Plymouth Adrift.
His perspective brings another question to the table: what does Plymouth's changing tide mean when the sea is also your workplace?
Jes Hirons
Plymouth Sound National Marine Park Coastal Ranger Jes Hirons has spent much of her life in, on and around the water.
Growing up in Cawsand, Plymouth Sound was Jes's playground. She has sailed and dived extensively in the area and, at 18, crossed the Atlantic as part of a professional yacht crew.
With a degree in Marine and Environmental Science, experience in marine conservation and a particular interest in helping people connect with blue and green spaces, Jes now helps communities discover, enjoy and care for Plymouth Sound.
David Cotterrell
Artist David Cotterrell has been thinking about Plymouth's tides from another perspective entirely.
His new public artwork Intertidal, commissioned through Sea for Yourself, asks a deceptively simple question:
Where does the sea really stop?
Four transformed cars are travelling through Plymouth carrying water that rises and falls in response to the changing tide, bringing the rhythm of Plymouth Sound into places where we don't normally expect to encounter it.
The Tide Cafés are an opportunity to take some of the questions behind Intertidal further to talk about what we notice, what we remember and how the water surrounding Plymouth influences everyday life.
Your knowledge matters too
Although our hosts bring different experiences and knowledge to the cafés, the conversation doesn't belong to them.
It belongs to everyone around the table.
Tide Together is about exploring Plymouth's relationship with the sea through many different perspectives, scientific, creative, environmental, practical and personal.
Sometimes the most interesting observation might come from someone who has studied the sea for decades.
Sometimes it might come from someone who walks their dog along the same beach every morning.
And sometimes it might begin with someone asking a question they've never thought to ask before.
So pull up a chair.
Have some cake.
Tell us what you've noticed.
And see where the tide takes the conversation.
Join a Tide Café
Saturday 19 September
Market Hall, Devonport
11am–1pm
Thursday 24 September
Efford Library
6–8pm
Saturday 10 October
East End
2–4pm
All Tide Cafés are free and informal, with complimentary tea, coffee and cake.
Drop in for ten minutes or stay for the conversation.
Tide Cafés form part of Tide Together, the public programme accompanying David Cotterrell's Intertidal, commissioned through Sea for Yourself.
