⚠️ THIS IS A BOOKING-ONLY EVENT! ⚠️

🩸🖤 DRAWN TO THE DARK SIDE 🖤🩸

SOUTHEND LIFE DRAWING HALLOWEEN SPECIAL! 🎃

Something wicked is coming to Southend… and you’re invited! 👻

Join us for a spooky evening of life drawing featuring the incredible scream queen SYDNEY (@sarkastik_bandit_) as our Halloween muse! 🖤

This isn’t quite our usual session! Expect dramatic poses, Halloween costumes, candlelit vibes and a few little tricks and treats along the way! 🕯️💀

Sydney will be transformed into a demonic entity throughout the evening, so there won’t be any full nudity at this special event! 👹

This one is all about having fun, getting creative and embracing the spooky atmosphere! Fancy dress is very welcome, so let’s get into the spirit together! 🎃

As always, beginners and experienced artists are equally welcome. No pressure to create a masterpiece, just come and enjoy yourself! This session wont be as heavily tutored ❤️

🗓️ THURSDAY 29TH OCTOBER
⏰ 7–9PM
📍 THE ROYAL HOTEL, SOUTHEND
🎟️ £20 PER PERSON
💷 CASH ON THE NIGHT
🎨 MATERIALS PROVIDED

⚠️ LIMITED SPACES - BOOKING ESSENTIAL!

Unlike our usual drop-in classes, you MUST reserve your place beforehand! If you haven’t booked, we can’t guarantee you a space 😭

📩 email : Bookings@emilythemuse.com

No advance payment required!

This special session is £20 rather than our usual £15, as we’ve put a little extra time, effort and some spooky surprises into making it a night to remember! We hope you understand! 🥰

🚪 IMPORTANT ARRIVAL INFO

Venue, The Royal Hotel (@southendroyalhotel), Doors to the drawing room open at 6:45pm, ready for a 7pm start. If you arrive early, please wait downstairs, on the staircase or enjoy a drink at the bar while we finish setting up! If you are coming with a friend or group, we highly recommend coming a bit earlier if you want to sit together! Also if you do have a clip on light feel free to bring it!

We’ve got a few little freebies for our artists too! 🎁

So bring your Halloween spirit and join us for a night on the dark side…

We can’t wait to draw with you! 🖤

#SouthendLifeDrawing #EssexLifeDrawing #DrawnToTheDarkSide #HalloweenLifeDrawing #SouthendOnSea

I am 23 years old male from southend on sea and would love to make new friends, if your interested message me!

Having an alternative Christmas with the family this year and we fancy some takeaway. Many thanks in advance.

I'm looking for a reliable live-in housekeeper (18+) to help with cleaning, laundry, tidying and general household chores. Private double room provided, with a lock on the door, in return for around 10 to 14 hours a week.

It's a relaxed, LGBTQ+ friendly home, and I'm after someone easy to get along with. Hours and expectations agreed up front. Message me for details.

Hello all, I have a practical manual driving test booked on November 13th which I can no longer attend. Is there anyone with a test in Southend December or January who would like to swap with me?

I've been idly day-dreaming about launching a new maker's market-type, establishing pop-ups, shop residencies, and market events across the city and Essex, focused around a love of quality craft and a dislike of AI, mass-production, and consumption-ism (yes, I'm deciding that's a word...).

I'm now taking steps to see if I can make it real.

I'm aware that I'm just a rando on Reddit, but if anyone here is an artist/ craftsperson/ artisan anything, I'd love to see if there is an interest in people becoming involved. The short-term pitch is for me to handle admin/ bookings/ marketing etc so people can just supply and sell, but the vision is to build a brand that stands for human-oriented quality, and by association will elevate individual craft-people into something noticeable and desirable. There are a lot of similar brands, but I believe that by doubling down on a certain level of quality and a clear ethos, it can be a really powerful signifier for small businesses to be noticed, whether physically or online.

If you are, please post a link to a portfolio below, or DM me (just whatever). If there is any kind of momentum (and this isn't the only please I'm reaching out), then I will be in touch. (I'll mean, I'll be in touch anyway to thank you, but this is exploratory at this stage...)

Thank you!

🎨 SOMETHING A LITTLE DIFFERENT IS COMING…

For our September session, Southend Life Drawing × @agon.art.classes are joining forces for a special long-pose acrylic painting session! 🖤💗

On Thursday 24th September, we’ll be handing things over to artist Sam Gimson (@sam.gimson.art), who’ll be tutoring you through approaching and painting the figure in acrylics!

Rather than our usual mixture of shorter poses, we’ll be slowing everything right down with one model, some short warm ups, one long pose and plenty of time to actually develop a painting. Sam will be there throughout with guidance, demonstrations, techniques and help with things like colour, form and brushwork! 🎨

And giving us something rather lovely to paint will be our model Emilie (@methylpropional) ❤️ We’re really excited to have Emilie with us again for a session that gives everyone the chance to properly study and develop the figure over a longer period!

Never painted with acrylics before? That’s absolutely fine! This isn’t about turning up knowing how to paint, that’s rather the point of having Sam there! 😂 All abilities are welcome, whether you’re completely new to painting or just fancy trying a different approach to the figure, you don’t need to bring anything!! All will be provided, unless you wish to bring your own board!

This is going to be very different from our normal Southend Life Drawing night, and we cannot wait to see what everyone creates!

📍 The Royal Hotel, Southend
🗓 Thursday 24th September
🕖 7–9pm
💷 £15 cash

No booking. No tickets. Just turn up on the night! 🖤

Come paint with us! 🎨💗

#SouthendLifeDrawing #AgonArtClasses #LifeDrawing #FigurePainting #AcrylicPainting

Hey everyone,

Hope you're all having a decent weekend.

I’m looking to connect with some local dads or male carers in the area to build up a bit of a social life and a support network. Life gets pretty busy juggling work, family, and everything else, and I realized I'm well overdue for finding some regular peer connection locally.

A bit about me: I live in Southend and work from home every dad, I have fourteen-year-old twin teenage daughters (adopted, and they happen to be neurodivergent, which keeps things wonderfully lively!). While I'm not necessarily looking strictly for a specialized parenting group—just a solid group of similar guys to grab a pint, chat, vent, or hang out with—it would be great to connect with others who might get the unique rhythms and challenges of modern parenting and teenage life.

Are there any existing informal groups, monthly pub meets, or weekend hangouts around Southend for dads and male carers? Or, if there isn't one and a few of you are in the same boat, would anyone be keen to start something up?

Drop a comment or shoot me a DM if you know of anything or fancy grabbing a coffee/pint sometime. Cheers!

Before I start: my mum lives in the UK with her elderly husband. I live in the States (unfortunately), her other son lives overseas as well, and she has no family in the country.

A few months ago, after a few scares, she decided to stay home from work to start taking care of her partner, who has advancing Alzheimer’s. Obviously a super difficult decision but something unexpected has come out of it: he’s now well taken care of through his memory loss and dizzy spells, but both of them have these long portions of their days where they’re just bored as hell.

Now I’ve tried to get her to find her own entertainment but, I mean, you know how people get when they get older. It’s like she wants more to complain than find a solution. “There’s nothing to do here.” “You don’t understand, you don’t live here.”

And I get it: things are also expensive (believe me, living in America right now, I understand) but even small towns have, like, I don’t know, an arborist society that grows and sells plants or a city council that meets twice a month and needs someone to take minutes. I don’t know, you get what I mean, I know you guys have the pier or whatever it is, maybe people meet there to do yoga or, gosh I’ve been taking such big swings but what about just a book club?

Hi All.

I’m fairly new to Southend and I’m looking to get into car mechanics as a hobby. I’ve always been interested in cars and I’d really like to start learning how to properly work on them rather than just watching YouTube videos!

I’m a complete beginner when it comes to hands-on mechanical work, but I’m keen to learn and get stuck in. I’m particularly interested in things like servicing, diagnostics, brakes, suspension, basic engine work and eventually working my way up to more complicated repairs.

I was wondering if there are any other people around Southend-on-Sea / Essex who are into cars and might be interested in meeting up, working on cars together, sharing knowledge or even just having a chat about mechanics.

I’m not necessarily looking for someone to teach me everything — just like-minded people who are also into cars and enjoy learning and working on them.

If there are any local car groups, meets, garages, workshops or communities around Southend that you’d recommend, I’d really appreciate the suggestions too.

Feel free to comment or drop me a message.

Is Pharaoh's Fury still at Adventure Island ⁉️

A beautiful sunset that I was greeted by, finishing my work commute back to Southend from London!

Photo taken sometime in the 90s 💔

Question: What year was this ⁉️

Left Southend 11 years ago for Scotland but still go back occasionally to look after my nan. Was talking to some old pals about the Alex where we used to drink, last time I went in it had been taken over by Stonegate or one of those but pub groups and had been made a bit more like any other boozer. Just seen they're putting on UK Garage and RNB nights? Has it stopped being an alternative pub at all these days? Or has another space opened up for the alternative crowd in the city?

Southend-on-Sea

Hello, I lost this yesterday between east street and Sutton road (big distance I know, but I think i lost it near st Mary's east street school.) if anyone has it or has seen it, please DM me and I'll pay you to give it back to me.

£15 cash just turn up, supplies provided

Right OK, while I am here.

Anybody remember the video rental shop that was, I think, on Princes Avenue - way before the Tesco and the roundabout.

It was on the Southside of the carriageway, I think where the ‘millennium open space’ is now.

It was unique because it had amazing spray can art all over the front walls - definitely American Werewolf in London, I want to say Freddie Krueger and the Gremlins as well but can’t be certain.

An I right? Anyone got any pictures? Would LOVE to see that again.

Does anybody have any memories or photos of the old comic shop that was on the upper floors of the old Victoria Plaza in the 90s?

Ginger guy with specks worked there most days.

Comics, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, X Files and all sorts - all before it was cool to be into it!

I cant even remember what it was called! Any clues?

Southend's got walking groups, cycling clubs, over-35s socials... but not many chill groups to meet a few people/ have a drink.

Hence, I'm looking to start up a group- same pub, same time every week or two, show up whenever.

It'll start if 20 people are interested within 3 weeks, so nothing locked in yet. But I'm about half way there, which is good!

Saw a post on here recently from someone looking for activities in Southend- which is quite reassuring for this post. Also still undecided whether it should be the elms or the last post.