Flimsy Works is working with communities in Blackburn and Pendle to create a Pop-Up Bridge that not only connects neighbourhoods separated by the canal but also brings people closer to water, heritage and nature. All Flimsy’s structures are designed and built by hand, in collaboration with local communities, fostering ownership through construction. They produce designs for self-build, providing easy-to-read blueprints and promoting a Do-It-Yourself mentality to getting things built at the same time as building the skills and confidence of the people they work with.
At the National Festival of Making, you can join Flimsy Works in a fun interactive workshop to draw, measure, cut and stick new timber attachments to a 1:10 scale replica of Blackburn’s own Bill Hunt barge to transform the narrowboat into a bridge across the Leeds & Liverpool Canal! Over the summer Flimsy Works will continue to develop these designs alongside local residents in a series of workshops to construct the ‘pop-up bridge’. The new ‘Barge Bridge’ will then embark on a four-day voyage over the August Bank Holiday weekend from Blackburn to Pendle, stopping at various points along the way to span over the water – connecting spaces and communities.
