London SE1 > News & Features > September 1999

Festivities on the Thames

If you have taken part in the Open House events, what better way of rounding off a packed weekend in SE1 than visiting the Thames Festival?

During the afternoon of Sunday 19 September the London Aquarium has teamed up with Thames 21 to organise the first annual clean-up of the Thames foreshore. From 1.30pm volunteers are welcome to help with the litter pick-up and graffiti clean-up between Festival Pier and Gabriel's Wharf. There will be free McDonald's food and competitions as an incentive! Down at the Founders Arms Museum of London experts will be staging an archeological dig, whilst rockpools will be constructed near Tower Bridge. Boat services will link the activities.

The annual riverside carnival starts at 7pm on Victoria Embankment, travelling over Blackfriars Bridge to Bernie Spain Gardens and the Royal National Theatre. There will be 1500 participants in the procession which is expected to draw a crowd of over 50,000. The massive firework display which follows will be accompanied by the SE1-based London Festival Orchestra performing Handel's Water and Fireworks Music, recreating the original performance nearby on a barge.

See www.thamesfestival.org