Participants of the annual ‘Miss Jaywick’ competition heading to the beach to have pictures taken.
Danny Sloggett on stage at the Clacton Prince Theatre, which hosted a fashion show of the work of local designers using amateur models from Clacton and Jaywick. Danny’s phrase is ‘Shine On’, which he uses to promote a positive message about Jaywick and life in general.
Elika and Suzanne (right) dancing with friends at the Broadway club. Elika is a trans woman and moved to Jaywick in 2019. They have found an accepting home in Jaywick and were recently married.
‘Lynn off Gogglebox’ (Linda McGarry) is well known locally as she was a regular on Channel 4’s Gogglebox programme. Lynn has fostered over 140 young people over her life and has recently been homing a young man called Matt, who came from a homeless shelter. Lynn has found him a job as a barman at a local karaoke club.
Eddie Ball at the Never Say Die pub. The pub is a community home, with the space used for a wide range of events such as a weekly tabletop market, funerals and music nights.
A view of the Brooklands neighbourhood of Jaywick, which sits on the coast in Essex, UK. The area was recently, for the fourth time, declared as England’s most deprived area.
Danny Sloggett performs with his neighbours. Most residents disagree with Jaywick’s representation in the news and media; however, for some in the town, life is hard with little opportunity for improvement. Despite this, the village feel and culture of care means most would never leave.
During karaoke at the Sailor Boy pub in one of Jaywick’s many caravan holiday parks.
Much of the local investment in the area goes towards flood defences, including expensive upgrades to the sea wall that stretches the entire length of the town. According to the ‘Climate Central’ coastal risk screening tool, much of Jaywick, including its village centre, is projected to be below the annual flood level in the 2030s.
Families queueing to enter a Christmas grotto at the Sunspot community event space. The Christmas party, which included carols, snacks and meeting Father Christmas, was put on by the Jaywick Sands Community Forum group, one of the many volunteer social organisations in Jaywick.
Jack and David during Elika and Suzanne’s wedding.
A street in the Brooklands area. Jaywick does have social issues, with 40% of its residents unable to work due to sickness or long-term health issues, according to the Citizens Advice Bureau. However, a thriving community exists, and many residents would never leave.
A photo from Brooklands was used in 2018 in a pro-Trump election advert to warn Democrat voters of what voting against Trump would look like. However, Ieda refutes this depiction of Jaywick and states she has never felt happier in a community.
Tony Mack in his bar named ‘Churchill’s’, built at the bottom of his garden.
Jaywick sits within the leader of the Reform UK Party, Nigel Farage’s Clacton constituency.
A flag commemorating the coronation of King Charles in nearby Clacton-On-Sea.
A line dance at Golf Green Hall, another well-used and supportive community space.
St Christopher's Church, the venue for the monthly Jaywick Sands Happy Club.
Attendees at the Jaywick Sands Happy Club. Many feel that their town is negatively misrepresented in the media when there is actually a strong culture of community and care.
Jaywickians are highly aware of media representation issues regarding their village. Many are fed up with journalists coming to the town with a preconceived negative story, and numerous locals give examples of when they have felt tricked by interviewers promising a positive report that ends up portraying them with the same negative stereotypes.
Many young people plan to move away from Jaywick when they can. This is because there is little economy or opportunity for jobs and growth. Built for seaside tourism, which all but left during the 1980s after the closure of Butlins, there are no other large employers in Jaywick.
O Yemi Tubi, is a Nigerian artist who has moved to Jaywick from London with his wife. He loves the village and refers to it as ‘Joywick’.
The Oakmede Social Club, which hosts regular karaoke nights alongside being a Chinese takeaway during the summer.
Arriving at the Never Say Die Pub.
The Grand National at the Never Say Die.
Many of Jaywick’s residents emigrated from London after holidaying in the town when growing up, and have found that it is similar in culture to 1970/80s London. During karaoke, many of the songs are ‘cockney classics’, such as Chas and Dave and ‘My Old Man’s a Dustman’.
Josie enjoying the karaoke at the Never Say Die pub.
Josie and Lynn share words at the Never Say Die pub during a karaoke party. Karaoke in Jaywick offers a place of support and social care, where people can be present with their community and sing songs of their youth.
Participants of the annual ‘Miss Jaywick’ competition, held at the Never Say Die pub.
Young ladies dancing at a winter dance organised by Jaywick’s carnival court. The event was hosted by local charity ‘Sonny’s Army’, who provide support to the families of children with long-term illness.
Local children enjoy the Christmas grotto put on by the ‘Sonny’s Army’ charity in the back garden of Sonny’s mother.
The charity was started after Danell’s child, Sonny, was diagnosed with a rare heart condition.
Lee, Danell’s partner, helps put up a Christmas grotto in their back garden in the Brooklands area for local children. It is an event they put on every year in support of ‘Sonny’s Army’, a local charity who provide support to the families of children with long-term illness.
In general, the current government is not popular with local residents.
“Labour is not for people anymore - they work for big business. It's all people who have been to Eaton. They (the Labour MPs) could not live on what they expect people to live on.”
Jaywick was flooded during the North Sea Flood of 1953, which tragically resulted in the deaths of 35 people in the town.
Danny writing in his home. Danny is contacted almost daily by journalists and YouTubers wanting access to people in the town. Many of these start negatively, with people messaging with openers such as - “What's it like living in Britain’s biggest shit hole?”
“They can ‘shine off’ frankly,” says an in-demand Danny Sloggett.
Danny Sloggett lives with his multiple pets in Jaywick. As a reformed ex-prisoner, he naturally decorates the property like a prison cell, with pictures, cards and other documents adorning every possible space on the wall.
Ieda, a fashion designer and artist from Brazil, with her husband John. They live in an area called Brooklands in Jaywick. A photo from Brooklands was used in 2018 in a pro-Trump election advert to warn Democrat voters of what voting against Trump would look like. However, Ieda refutes this depiction of Jaywick and states she has never felt happier in a community.
Lesley in her holiday home is St Osyth’s holiday park.
St Christopher's Church, the venue for the monthly Jaywick Sands Happy Club.
Seaweed on rocks that make up part of Jaywick’s coastal defences.
A dress flows along Jaywick’s protective seawall.
Bethany modelling local designer Ieda Lima’s clothing on the sea wall in the Brooklands area of Jaywick.
Jaywick Sands Happy Club
2025
An ongoing project celebrating community resilience and representation in the Essex village of Jaywick, whilst exploring the issues and links between climate change and Reform UK.
Jaywick, a village sitting on the eastern coast of England facing the North Sea, is regularly referred to as ‘Britain’s most deprived area’. The population is approximately 97% ethnically white, approximately 62% of the working-age population is on some form of benefits and 38% (double the national average) are in the 65+ age bracket.
In the 2024 election, Nigel Farage became MP on his eighth election attempt for the Clacton-on-Sea constituency, of which Jaywick sits within. Reform UK’s main policies include being against immigration and plan to abolish climate change net zero goals. Jaywick, and many other areas voting for Reform UK, will soon be negatively affected by climate change related coastal flooding.
Googling Jaywick presents a long list of negative headlines, with documentaries such as Channel 5’s ‘Benefits By The Sea’ and many YouTuber videos showing life in supposedly ‘Britain’s most deprived area’.
Despite the negativity associated with the area, the town has a thriving community and a strong culture of care, of which the local population is proud. Many Jaywickians are cockneys from London, and speak about how similar the local culture is to the East End of London 30 years ago.
“I hate the word deprived…”
I never planned to create a project about Jaywick and first visited the area after walking from Clacton whilst investigating the constituencies voting for the Reform UK party.
On this first trip, I met Robbo, who explained that despite what I may have read about Jaywick, his experience of the village was not what was generally represented and that it has a thriving community that he felt was reminiscent of London 30 years ago. He said that there was a culture of care within the community, but also a sense of humour and a spirit of fun, which could be best observed at one of Jaywick’s many karaoke nights. He invited me to see for myself at a karaoke party he was hosting.
A few days later, I took a deep breath and walked into the Broadway Club. Robbo announced my arrival over the speakers whilst giving me a wink: “you’ve just seen Dave walk in. He is a journalist, he is a Charlton fan, but don’t beat him up.”
Interim Exhibition
In response to this issue of how Jaywickians feel poorly represented, I put on an interim exhibition of the project. This was done in the Broadway Club, where many of the photos had been taken. There were feedback forms, both physical and anonymous online, and I was there for the full three days, available for a chat. In the spirit of openness and trust - the idea of this was so that the community represented by me in these images, could let me know what they felt about it, at a point where I was still making the project.
See more from this exhibition here.
Published
The GuardianDer Spiegel
Source Magazine
Royal Photographic Society - The Decisive Moment Magazine
Exhibtions
Tesserae - MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography graduation show at Photo Fusion, Brixton.
Tesserae - MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography graduation show at Photo Fusion, Brixton.
Jaywick Sands Happy Club 'In Progress' - Picnic , St Leonards. WIP show at Picnic and publically on abandoned restaurant Azur.
Jaywick Sands Happy Club 'In Progress' - Picnic , St Leonards. WIP show at Picnic and publically on abandoned restaurant Azur.
Jaywick Sands Happy Club 'In Progress' - Picnic , St Leonards. WIP show at Picnic and publically on abandoned restaurant Azur.
Jaywick Sands Happy Club 'In Progress' - Picnic , St Leonards. WIP show at Picnic and publically on abandoned restaurant Azur.
Jaywick Sands Happy Club 'In Progress' - Picnic , St Leonards. WIP show at Picnic and publically on abandoned restaurant Azur.
Jaywick Sands Happy Club 'In Progress' - Picnic , St Leonards. WIP show at Picnic and publically on abandoned restaurant Azur.
Book Dummy
A physical or PDF book dummy is available. Email me at davidjshawphoto@gmail.com to view.