Documenting a cooperative

I first met Surge Co-op back in 2018 whilst on another shoot waiting for a community choir to turn up. I knew Stephen, one of the founding members, as I’d interviewed him in ‘Community Gardener’ role at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine’s. They were having a pre-meeting before speaking with an investor, and I couldn’t help but be intrigued by their impressive vision. They aim to transform Bow Creek, a section of the River Lea in Newham, into a thriving barge community through better moorings infrastructure – in turn improving sustainability, ecology and community. By showing it could be a success at Bow Creek, they hope to inspire other co-operative mooring organisations up and down the country.

I was commissioned to create a film that summarised the past year of activity after the official creation of the co-op – including lots of community events, river clear ups, and stakeholder meetings.

December 2019