This Christmas, there will be a new twist to the Advent window theme in the London Borough of Greenwich – where an artistic scavenger hunt being organised to raise money for the ME Association swings into action.
But walkers will need to slow down and focus on the little things in life as they attempt to snuffle out the artworks in windows at some of the busiest addresses in the borough. Because many of them will be very small indeed.
This will be The Little Match Trail’, a 5km walk round places like The Cutty Sark, Heap’s Sausage Café and the Casbah record shop.
It’s being organised by local games designer and artist Amy Strike to bring out the best in those who want to give miniaturism a go, including people who are members of the South East London ME Support Group. The group want any donations to come to the ME Association.
“We’ve got five people in total making art for the project, being staged in 12 windows and all the art sits in extra large matchboxes,” Amy told us this week.
“People who want to take part follow a map and find the artwork in the windows. They also solve a puzzle at each window for a secret prize at the end..”
All the instructions and an interactive route map will be available from 1st December on Amy’s Instagram @littlematchtrail2024 and at Little Match Trail 2024 on Facebook. The trail will stay open until New Year’s Eve.
Amy grabbed the opportunity to create a similar trail called ‘Christmas Nightlights’ last year – once St Alfege’s Church in the borough had pressed pause on their own Advent Windows project, after a successful 16-year run. Several hundred people enjoyed tracking down those nightlight windows last year.
For some years, Amy co-ran an immersive games company called Fire Hazard Games, creating a significant market for its products in both the UK and Australia.
If you can’t get to Greenwich to enjoy this year’s Little Match Trail but would like to contribute to its success, please visit:
https://www.justgiving.com/page/littlematchtrail
Photo shows Amy Strike at her workbench, a cornucopia of little things she has collected over the years.
Photos show some of the little matchbox treasures that walkers will catch glimpses of on the trail.
Tony Britton
Senior Fundraising Volunteer, The ME Association
fundraising@meassociation.org.uk
