Placed in a Fortress City

Placed in a Fortress City is a series of creative workshops running across Fort Widley and Fort Cumberland in Portsmouth, hosted by the University of Portsmouth. The next session is on Sunday 18 October, following an earlier one on 11 October, so if you missed the first, there's still a chance to get involved.

The workshops are part of the Portsmouth100 celebrations, and they centre on memory—both the personal stuff you carry and the collective memory of the city. They look at how those two things fit together within Portsmouth and its varied geography, and how they shape the way we feel we belong here. It's a bit of a dive into what makes the city what it is, and where we fit into that picture.

Each session is hands-on, and they're aimed at families, so it's something you can do with the kids rather than just something for adults. You don't need any prior experience to take part—it's about making things and talking through the ideas, not about being an artist. If you've never done a creative workshop before, this is a good place to start.

Both sessions start at 10am and run for around three hours each, with the next one on Sunday 18 October. They're held at Fort Widley and Fort Cumberland, so you'll be working within the city's old defences while thinking about its history and its people.