View Full Version : Thames Festival 15-16th September
On the same weekend as the open house is one of the last free festivals of the year. Its OK, its not that great either but its something to do. Looks like it would be good for kids.
There is a firework display on the sunday though. I love fireworks! :)
http://www.thamesfestival.org/
On the same weekend as the open house is one of the last free festivals of the year. Its OK, its not that great either but its something to do. Looks like it would be good for kids.
There is a firework display on the sunday though. I love fireworks! :)
http://www.thamesfestival.org/
Good call Sunray. Had a great time at this last year....shed loads of good music happening on the sunday as well this year.
Got my Mum & her husband down for that weekend (:eek:) so will probably got to this for something to do!
Its OK, its not that great either but its something to do.
Aww, I like it! I've been for the last 2 or 3 years and always had a good time, and the fireworks are great.
All we need is an urbanites meeting point, a few bottles of something and a few munchies, and anything's generally pretty good. :D
isn't FinFest on that weekend? Sunday, Finsbury Park?
isn't FinFest on that weekend? Sunday, Finsbury Park?
Yes, which is great, because we're doing both! :D
Saturday: All day at the Thames festival, including this bridge feast which I really like the sound of:
http://www.thamesfestival.org/cn/whats_on/index.php?event_id=17&dayid=Saturday
Sunday: Start the day at thye Finsbury Park festival, then about 6 or 7 pm when it finishes, head over to Thames festival in plenty of time for some food and the fireworks, (hopefully getting a free PieMinister pie like last year!) :D
Don't worry, I have your life already organised, all you have to do is obey the commands. :p
That's my weekend sorted then. Offline @ the Alma Saturday, Thames festie the day after. Nice one!
I'll be there on Sunday. Always enjoy the illuminated procession which ends the festival - and the fireworks.
RubyToogood
10-09-2007, 10:30
Its OK, its not that great either but its something to do.
That's pretty harsh! I wouldn't miss it. There's always heaps going on and the procession is pretty spectacular. My only beef with it is that it's strung out along such a long strip.
dogmatique
11-09-2007, 22:46
Um, that's because it's the Thames festival! It's a bleedin river! :rolleyes: :D
Sorry, but I really love the Thames festival - the procession is one of the best community involved things I see every year and it's great.
The floats are fantastically designed, there's some brilliant monsters and moving sculptures, and the involvement of wildly different community groups and kids is second to none.
And it's a lot friendlier than Notting Hill.
And there's a great big fuck off firework display at the end.
Good post Dogmatique!
When I watched the procession last year, I saw a guerilla group of morris men stroll up and join in!
RubyToogood
14-09-2007, 18:55
Have we got any meeting points then?
No but we should do. Trouble is i haven't had a look at what's actually going on yet, so I dont want to say 3pm on the patch of lawn in front of the little stage in the middle, in case there's something unmissable going on elsewhere.
If anyone does suggest anything, (as long as it's well after noon, :D ) I imagine people will go there.
Being a hippy of sorts, I'm going to suggest:
13:40 SIEZE THE DAY
Potter's Field Park, Green Man Stage.
http://www.thamesfestival.org/cn/whats_on/index.php?event_id=44&dayid=Saturday
Location: off Tooley Street, at the east end of the festival i think
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/culture/potters-field/index.jsp
isn't FinFest on that weekend? Sunday, Finsbury Park?
Got a link for Finfest?
Got a link for Finfest?
Only this one:
http://finsburypark.wordpress.com/2007/08/11/finfest-one-world-one-park-sunday-16th-september-2007-1-7pm/
there doesn't seem to be any kind of official site that we can find.
Only this one:
http://finsburypark.wordpress.com/2007/08/11/finfest-one-world-one-park-sunday-16th-september-2007-1-7pm/
there doesn't seem to be any kind of official site that we can find.
http://www.finfest.co.uk/
although you find more out from googling finfest :D
Anyway...
Thames Festival?
We'll be there for 1:30 with any luck.
All I have to do is scrape the boyfriend off the sofa, wrestle the laptop from him, persuade him to put some clothes on, and we're nearly there.
I'm coming down to this today too!
The festie site seems borked at the mo' though.
RubyToogood
16-09-2007, 10:41
I'm going up today and will be at the Green Man stage in Potter's Field Park (east/downstream of City Hall) for Dragonsfly at 3pm. No idea if they're any good but they've got a gurdy player so I've got to see them really.
Um, if it's a biggish sort of thing, then in front and to the left of the sound desk as you look at the stage.
Miss-Shelf
16-09-2007, 10:48
the singer with dragonsfly has a lot of energy and passion (they do a lot of breton numbers tho - you gotta like droning!)
Miss-Shelf
16-09-2007, 10:48
why is there so much to do this weekend in london that all conflicts
ITS NOT FAIR
wanna go to it all!!!!!!!
RubyToogood
16-09-2007, 10:52
you gotta like droning!
This is not a problem for me :)
Well, we were a bit unimpressed yesterday...
There were no toilets whatsoever, and getting from anywhere to anywhere else was a nightmare. And we weren't allowed on the bridge of feast! What was that all about; had they reached maximum capacity on there by lunchtime or something?
And the Market Porter was closed for a private party! :eek:
We went home early but due lack of buses, by the time we got home it was late evening anyway.
Still, good bits were :
Seize the day at the beginning, a few small impromptu bands along the way, a pub we found that had a small bit of room upstairs and did Landlord ale, a great bread stall and a chilli sauce stall, a rare shufty through borough market, and some random chats with visiting strangers.
We'll be doing it again tonight, after Finfest has finished, but we'll just go straight for the fireworks, avoiding trying to traverse any actual bits of river, I think. (Might even just stay on the north side of the river!)
The line-up at the Thames festival is far better than Finfest....Thames it is then. :)
dynamicbaddog
16-09-2007, 21:07
I did'nt go this year, but I've just been watching all teh fireworks from my window - v. impressive:cool: :)
RubyToogood
16-09-2007, 22:24
That was brilliant. Although not Dragonsfly, who were annoying hippies.
The best bit on Saturday - by miles - was along Southwark Bridge.
It was like the M41 protest had gone legit ('seaside' sand on the road, sofas, bands etc) and brilliantly done up.
RubyToogood
16-09-2007, 22:48
Now would Boris Johnson throw a party like that I ask you.
Saturday: they had no toilets, and they weren't letting people onto Southwark bridge.
Sunday: FinFest was full of fine peeps. And straw.
Fireworks weren't bad, though.
Went yesterday – bit of a disappointment, really. It was quite promising at first, with the big band music at Bernie Spain Gardens, but as we squeezed through the crowds towards the RFH there was nothing to see apart from food and jewellery stalls... like Camden, but with less goths.
We walked back and headed towards the Tate, but there was more of the same, including a Starbucks stall :(
Maybe there was more interesting stuff going on (I would have known if their website had been working), but after an hour of wandering around and seeing nothing of interest, we bailed out. It's a great place for a festival in theory, but there were too many people crammed into a small space to enjoy wandering around.
RubyToogood
17-09-2007, 07:39
There were toilets behind City Hall, I think rich must have just missed them. And the South Bank Centre end of the festival was mostly stalls and too crowded I agree. City Hall was the better end, but I kept stumbling across interesting things along the way like sand sculptures and a group of Morris dancers. There was some great stuff going on in the Scoop yesterday - the Highland bagpipers with Brazilian percussionists stand out. And the fireworks were excellent, although the carnival was a bit "seen it last year" in parts.
DeadManWalking
17-09-2007, 08:34
I didn't think it was a patch on last year. Only went on Saturday but it seemed a lot more commercial maybe because mastercard was sponsoring it? Saw the Forty thieves orkestra who were great but not loud enough.
I didn't think it was a patch on last year. Only went on Saturday but it seemed a lot more commercial maybe because mastercard was sponsoring it? Saw the Forty thieves orkestra who were great but not loud enough.
They were plenty loud at FinFest, if they're the people I think they were :D
DeadManWalking
17-09-2007, 09:05
They were plenty loud at FinFest, if they're the people I think they were :D
Eastern European folk type stuff with a woman singer.
Eastern European folk type stuff with a woman singer.
Yeah, that's them. I'm not sure if it was by then we'd made our own podium out of the straw bales lying around...
Saw the Forty thieves orkestra who were great but not loud enough.
Saw a bit of them & thought they were very good. :)
I went down yesterday afternoon by chance after seeing this thread. not been before but had a great time, saw some brilliant swing band playing near the oxo tower, enjoyed the carnival and the fireworks at the end were superb. :)
William of Walworth
17-09-2007, 11:30
Deb was unexpectedly on London after a very late decision, just for a few hours :D :cool: and we were up there by the Thames on Sunday, but didn't see much music or many sights ... Baka Beyond at the Green Stage were pretty good though.
And the fireworks were excellent, although the carnival was a bit "seen it last year" in parts. I only went to the carnival and the fireworks and thoroughly enjoyed both. It was one of the best fireworks displays I've seen.
Awww William, you've managed to mention Deb in nearly every post you've made today - sweet!
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