Grimbarians Blog

For many who worked on Grimsby Docks in the past, it represented much more than a place of work – it was a community, bringing people together for generations. This is why the restoration of the Kasbah heritage zone has been much anticipated, so these “truly unique” historic buildings can experience a new lease of life.

It seems fitting that the organisation kickstarting this regeneration is Creative Start. Established in 2012 by Grimbarian Sam Delaney, Creative Start is a community of supportive peers encouraging people going through addiction recovery and with mental health issues, providing creative, hands-on projects. ‘The Great Escape’ is the team’s latest workspace and will serve the local community as a place to build their own creative projects. 

The Great Escape by Sam Delaney

When we set out to refurbish The Great Escape, we wanted to create a service that would provide local people with the tools, space and inspiration for them to be able to set up their own creative or community projects. We also wanted to create a community space that was different, somewhere in the heart of the docks that could be used for a variety of creative purposes.

One of our main aims at The Great Escape and the restoration work we have carried out, was to provide tangible evidence of what is possible. How a small group of volunteers, without a large budget but plenty of determination and commitment can play a part in helping the heritage of the town. We hope that we can help inspire people to do similar work. 

We were the first and only organisation in the Kasbah to take a hands-on approach to regeneration. We began work before we knew of any potential investment in the area. We have treated the building refurbishment as we would any other community art project and given our members complete creative freedom, painting a number of murals on the outside and inside of the building. We have decided on a theme for each room, including:

• McQueen’s workshop - Our fabrication, repairs and woodwork shop which is fully equipped with tools and workspaces. Our focus is on refurbishment and recycling and so, have created a vintage workshop feel with a themed wall displaying vintage tools. There are also references to Steve McQueen throughout. We have already worked on a number of community projects in the workshop, including making 50 wooden boxes for Oasis Community Hub to hold children's Christmas presents, restoring furniture, and a Grimsby Docks themed sculpture. We have made a number of items for the building in the workshop and fully restored our 4x4 truck. 

• Viking Kitchen - We have created a themed Viking community kitchen, which now includes a large Viking-style table that can serve up to 20 people. We are currently working on the downstairs toilets attached to the kitchen.

• The Fish Merchants Office - This will eventually be our office at the building. We have furnished this in a vintage style to resemble a Fish Merchants office just as it may have looked during the Docks’ heyday. We also have original paintings of Grimsby Trawlers on the walls, which were donated to us by a wagon driver who has worked on the docks for many years. 

• The Escape Artist room - This is the brightest room in the building and will be our art studio. We have refurbished in an Escape Artist theme, primarily Harry Houdini.

• The Great Escape Room - This is our main workshop room upstairs. We have decorated this with bespoke plastering techniques to resemble patina copper, rusty metal, and concrete. It has tables to seat up to 20 people. 

• The Movie room - This is our presentation room. We have decorated the room in a 1950s theme. It can seat 8 people comfortably and is equipped with a large projector screen for presentations as well as movies and gaming. 

• Grimstone - This is where the building's strong room is. We have decorated it in a wild west theme.

We are currently planning the next rooms whilst currently working on a maritime-themed room. It will be decorated to create an atmosphere of being underwater, in a submarine.

It will be quite industrial with rivets on the walls to look like sheet metal, and also a porthole in one of the walls.

We will be painting a mural in this room too. This will be one of our workshop rooms and we hope to be able to hire these rooms out once completed. 

All the work has been carried out by our team, including veterans, people in recovery, art students and community volunteers.

We have also had community payback take part in the restoration and they did a great job. Everyone involved has put their heart and soul into the building and I'm really proud of what has been achieved and the sense of purpose it has provided to all.

We would love to see more people get involved. Everyone that visits the building, loves the place and not many are aware that the project exists and of the work that has been carried out there.

We want people to know that they are welcome to get involved.

We want local people to take ownership.

We would like to thank Kurt Christensen, former tenant of the building.

He has supported us from the start and throughout the project.

He donated us his office furniture and equipment when he retired and we are really grateful for his support.

We would also like to thank all our funders who have enabled us to work on this project, including The Crime Reduction Fund, The Havelok Rotary Club, Orsted and Co-op. We would also like to thank ABP who initially gave us the opportunity to work on the project.

We have all loved being part of this restoration initiative on Grimsby Docks. We love it at the Docks, we are committed to its restoration and happy to support anyone who would like to do similar work here.

For anyone who would like more information about Creative Start, to receive support or to get involved with their upcoming projects, visit creativestartcic.org