Sun Pier House CIC

The Anchor
2026-06-30 15:30 - 17:30, 2026-06-23 15:30 - 17:30 UTC | Café, Second Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
The Anchor is an after-class social club where older teens can stop by for a drink, get creative, learn something new, or just chill with friends.

Zest - Dementia Friendly Arts Experiences
2026-06-30 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-06-23 10:00 - 12:00 | Community Hire Space, First Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Bright Shadow’s Zest Groups are shaped to individual needs and are safe and accessible. They introduce a rich mix of arts experiences that are mood-boosting, invigorating and which enhance communication and relationships. You don’t need to have experience of being creative to enjoy them. They offer a wide range of creative activities designed and led by professional artists based on the interests and needs of those taking part.

Life Drawing Sessions
2026-06-29 10:00 - 12:00, 2026-06-22 10:00 - 12:00 | Creation Space, Ground Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Self-led Life Drawing sessions held weekly in the Creation Space organised by a local art group.
Contact Lynn for more information at lynn-drew@outlook.com

Zen Go Yoga
2026-06-29 09:15 - 12:30, 2026-06-22 09:15 - 12:30 | Community Hire Space, First Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Join Angela from Zen Go yoga for 3 different classes every Monday.

Works on Paper; from Northfleet with love
2026-06-27 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-26 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-25 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-20 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-19 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-18 10:00 - 16:00 | Riverside Gallery, Second Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Exhibition – Bold, layered works exploring memory, movement, place, and personal history through colour, structure, and observation shaped by life in North Kent and beyond.
Steven J Knowles is a multidisciplinary visual artist working across painting, drawing, and community arts, based between Gravesham, Kent and the North Devon coast. His practice holds two things in productive tension: the intimacy of the studio and the scale of the public wall; the personal and the systemic; the mark made in private and the image that belongs to a community.
Knowles grew up moving between building sites with his father — an education conducted not in classrooms but in the smell of raw timber, wet concrete, and spaces mid-becoming. These formative years instilled in him a way of reading the world through its structures: what is built, what is neglected, who decides, and what remains. Nearly thirty years working in social housing gave that instinct consequence, and it is this rarely spoken biography that runs like a current beneath the painted surface.
His mark-making is grounded in a crosshatch and grid language — less a style than a way of thinking. It speaks of accumulation, of time registered, of the act of sustained attention. Against this structural skeleton he places colour that refuses to be polite: bold, often in conflict with itself, always chosen with intent. His works are built in series, each one a chapter in a longer argument.
Knowles surfs regularly at Woolacombe in North Devon — a place he returns to not as escape but as orientation. His travel, from Sicily to Norway, Romania to Lisbon, feeds a practice sustained by the conviction that observation, accumulated slowly and honestly, is its own form of argument.

Feminine Blooms - Susie Bear
2026-06-27 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-26 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-25 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-20 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-19 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-18 10:00 - 16:00 | Café, Second Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Step into a vibrant world where the elegance of the female form intertwines with the delicate allure of florals. “Feminine Blooms” showcases a captivating collection of artworks in pretty, inviting colours that celebrate grace, strength, and the timeless beauty of nature and femininity. Experience a harmonious blend of artistry that blooms with life, colour, and inspiration.

Café Open
2026-06-27 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-26 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-25 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-20 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-19 10:00 - 16:00, 2026-06-18 10:00 - 16:00 | Café, Second Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Perched on the top floor of Sun Pier House, our café offers stunning panoramic views of the River Medway, stretching from Rochester Castle to Upnor Castle. This peaceful spot provides a welcome escape from the bustle of Chatham High Street and is the perfect place to soak up the atmosphere Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Thursday Art Club
2026-06-25 10:00 - 12:00 | Creation Space, Ground Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Artist-led sessions allowing participants to work on their own projects or explore new techniques

Centa Co Circle - Autistic Female Group
2026-06-24 13:45 - 15:45 | Creation Space, Ground Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Centa Co Circle is a social and creative club for autistic women aged 18+. It provides a calm, supportive environment where members are able to socialise, build friendships, and take part in arts and crafts.

Wednesday Art Club
2026-06-24 10:00 - 12:00 | Creation Space, Ground Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF

Local Authority open newsroom
2026-06-19 10:00 - 17:00 | Creation Space, Ground Floor, Sun Pier House, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4HF
Come and meet the team behind Local Authority and tell us what we should be covering.

For Indie News Week 2026, Local Authority is opening up for the day.
Drop in, meet us, and talk to us about Medway.
You can ask how we decide what to cover, tell us where we’ve got things right, point us towards things we’ve missed, or talk to us about the issues in your part of Medway that deserve more attention.
We’re particularly interested in hearing from people in Medway’s villages and more rural communities. Those areas are often harder to cover regularly, and we’d like to speak to people who might be interested in helping us spot stories, follow local issues, or contribute reporting from their patch.
You can:
• Talk to us about the stories we cover
• Tell us about the stories we haven’t covered
• Share issues and concerns from your area
• Find out how Local Authority works behind the scenes
• Talk to us about helping cover your part of Medway
There will also be a panel discussion at 11am on the future of independent local news, the challenges facing the sector, and what happens when communities lose access to dedicated local journalism. Speakers will be announced soon.
You don’t need to stay all day. Drop in for five minutes, an hour, or stay for longer.
Indie News Week is run by the Public Interest News Foundation, of which we are a member. This year’s theme is “No news is bad news”, highlighting the role independent journalism plays in keeping communities informed and holding power to account.
