This summer EEA will be touring up and down England in a new commission to ask the nation; what are your maritime memories and what is your connection to the sea? Days in a deckchair or dug in behind a windbreak, sand in sandwiches, pebbles in flip flops. In the storm, in the calm, in the pub, fishermen, sailors, migration journeys, day-trippers. We will be travelling in our very own ice cream van which has been christened Maritime Memories Machine and instead of serving up ice cream, we’ll be whipping up a series of hands-on activities to help gather and trigger people’s memories & stories which are connected to the sea.

This new pop-up experience will be animated by EEA’s team of Associate Artists who will be in the role as Maritime Memory Catchers, the keepers (and catchers) of sea themed memories. These memories will fuel Maritime Memories Machine, taking it to its next location and more importantly, the stories collected will feature and inform National Maritime Museums new gallery called “Sea Things” which will launch in 2018.

Explore the smells and objects collected in our memory jars, read messages in bottles, listen to other people maritime memories using our Bluetooth headphones, fish for buoys in our conversation pool and share your message to the sea on the back of a paper seagull! You can meet the Maritime Memories Machine at 16 locations across; in Derby, Coventry, Leicester, Hull, Middlesborough, Stoke-on-Trent, Plymouth, Southampton, Portsmouth, Hastings, Jaywick, Great Yarmouth, Luton and Slough the Maritime Memories Machine will be popping up at libraries, parks, community centres and piers.

• Thursday 8 June - Chellaston Library, Barley Croft, Derby
• Friday 9 June - Bramblebrook Community Centre, Stockbrook St, Derby
• Saturday 10 June - Markeaton Park, Markeaton, Derby
• Sunday 11 June - Sunnyhill Community Centre, Coleridge Street, Derby
• Tuesday 13 June - Coombe Country Park, Coventry
• Wednesday 14 June - Edgwick Park, 83 Eld Rd, Coventry
• Thursday 15 June - Tile Hill Library, Jardine Crescent, Coventry
• Friday 16 June - War Memorial Park, Coventry
• Sunday 18 June - Town Hall Square, Leicester City Centre
• Monday 19 June - Woodbridge Children's Centre, Woodbridge Road, Leicester
• Wednesday 21 - June Brocks Hill Country Park and Centre, Leicester
• Saturday 24 June - Museums Quarter, Hull
• Wednesday 28 June - International Community Centre, Abingdon Rd, Middlesbrough
• Sunday 2 July - Captain Cook Birthplace Museum, Stewart Park, Middlesbrough
• Friday 7 July - Blyth Battery, Blyth
• Sunday 9 July - The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent
• Wednesday 12 July - Devonport Guildhall, Plymouth
• Thursday 13 July - Plymouth Hoe, Plymouth
• Sunday 16 July - Civic Piazza, Plymouth
• Wednesday 19 July - The Windmill Centre, Pendennis Road, Torquay
• Saturday 22 July - Torre Abbey, Torquay
• Friday 28 July - Sairbury Green Community Centre, Southampton
• Monday 31 July - Somerstown Community Centre, Portsmouth
• Thursday 3 August - Fratton Community Centre, Portsmouth
• Saturday 5 August - Rock-A-Nore Rd, Hastings
• Sunday 6 August - Hastings Pier, Hastings
• Monday 7 August - Broomgrove Community Centre, Hastings
• Saturday 12 August - Jaywick Martello Tower, Jaywick
• Wed 23 August - Britwell Community Centre, Long Furlong Drive, Slough
• Saturday 26 August - Slough Town Square, Slough High Street
• Monday 28 August - Slough National Maritime Museum, Slough

Keep up to date with our journey on social media using #YourSeaStories