Festival of Sheppey and the Sheppey Shuttle, June 2026
Throughout the Railway 200 year, we deepened our connection with Jenny Hurkett and Sheppey’s Criterion Blue Town heritage centre, who helped us to celebrate Sheppey’s transport heritage, arranged film screenings and supported and inspired many more of our events and activities.
Jenny proposed the “Festival of Sheppey” as a month long celebration of the Island’s heritage and culture.
The idea for the festival came about when Jenny read a comment from the Arts Council describing Sheppey as a “cultural desert”. Jenny knew the island has a rich heritage and vibrant communities worthy of celebration as one of Kent’s hidden gems.
Sheerness and Queenborough are great towns to visit sustainably on a Days Out By Rail adventure, with museums, harbours, blue flag beaches, a new adventure golf course and much more there really is something for everyone.
To recognise the importance of the economic boost the island receives from sustainable tourism by rail, the “Sheppey Shuttle” became launch event for the whole festival and for our own Community Rail Week activites.
Kevin McKenna MP, civic dignitaries and other invited guests met at Sittingbourne station where Bruce Horton, Sheppey town crier, gave a rousing welcome to one and all. Big Fish Arts provided musical accompaniment for our journey, with Bruce announcing the new arrivals we gathered at each station stop.
Once at Sheerness, we moved on the The Belle and Lion Wetherspoons pub who hosted us for a reception. The pub itself is a miniature museum, with information boards and panels dedicated to the island’s history dotted around its walls.
Speakers from some of Sheppey’s five museums highlighted upcoming events and activities taking place as part of the festival.
We are grateful to Jonathan Fryar, deputy chair of our Swale Rail Line for speaking about our work with local communities across the island during his own talk on the Minster Gatehouse Museum.
Suitably refreshed we were then treated to a guided heritage tour of sites in Sheerness and Blue Town, inspired in part by the Sheerness and Blue Town heritage walk, before rounding off our day with tea and gypsy tart at the Criterion Blue Town.
It was wonderful to see so many of Sheppey’s community groups coming together to celebrate everything that’s good about the island in a month long “Festival of Sheppey”.
We are extremely grateful to Southeastern for supporting the launch of the festival with the unforgetable “Sheppey Shuttle.”
