London is enjoying superb weather for this weekend’s annual Mayor’s Thames Festival as you can see from this photo. It was taken yesterday in The Scoop and you can see Tower Bridge in the background. And it’s not over! I’ll be heading down to the river later to enjoy today’s festivities and the spectacular parade and fireworks this evening. The event coincides with the Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony.

Have you ever been to the Mayor’s Thames Festival? What was your highlight?

London’s gone festival-crazy this weekend: can you fit them all into your schedule?

The Mayor’s Thames Festival

The River Thames is the stage for The Mayor’s Thames Festival – London’s largest free festival. For its sixteenth year, the programme of events in, on and alongside the water include some which tell the stories of the river’s ships. HMS Belfast will host choirs and drummers for a piece inspired by the vessel’s arctic sea battle in 1943, and  Turner Prize-nominated artist Richard Wilson has used ships horns to make the Cultureship De Walvisch sing her own sea shanty, retracing her cargo journeys of the past. The spectacular Night Carnival finale returns with 1,500 illuminated dancers, drummers, lantern-carriers and masqueraders parading the streets, followed by a huge fireworks display against the city skyline. 8-9 Sep

Unlimited

The Paralympic Games may be drawing to a close, but the renewed cultural focus on disability hopefully won’t. The Unlimited Festival involves disabled and deaf artists in some striking pieces. If you can catch her show, Scottish dancer Claire Cunningham will stage one of her personal and unforgettable performances with her crutches – Ménage à Trois explores her 20-year relationship with them and asks if it’s possible to find love when there are already three of you in a relationship. Until 9 Sep

Hackney Film Festival
East London’s celebration of all things cinema is back for a third year showcasing film screenings, Q&As, live cinema shows and film artist performances from the creative borough. Independent and Bafta-winning films are on the bill of short films at Rio Cinema: highlights include The Odyssey, where director Asif Kapadia collects Londoners’ opinions of the 2012 Olympics using aerial photography, audio interviews and archive footage. For an abstract experience check out Saturday’s ‘expanded cinema’ evening, where artists will distort film and fuse it with other mediums using tape recorders, lenses, projectors, animation and the Victorian zoetrope. 7-9 Sep

Future Cinema Presents Grease

Danny, Sandy and the gang from cult teen movie Grease will transform Barnes Common into a 1950s USA high school set this weekend, for one of Future Cinema’s immersive productions. The location was only revealed a few days ago and details are always cryptic, but it looks like we can expect a funfair, sleepover at Frenchie’s, food at Frosty’s diner and of course, a screening of the classic motion picture at the end. Tickets are selling fast – but a new batch of tickets for Friday and Saturday are being released at 1pm today. 7-9 Sep

Got some tips for what to do this weekend? Add them below.

Were you there? Add your photos to the Visit London Flickr Pool and tag them “Thames Festival” to appear above.

Photos by Mark Baynes.

Last weekend the Mayor’s Thames Festival whipped up a blissful, celebratory spirit along central London’s riverside, helped along by good weather (I even managed to get a touch of sunburn), rhythms originating from the Balkans to Cuba, and plenty of cold beer.

The two-day long party surrounding London’s waterway featured an al fresco dance floor enjoyed by jive and swing dancers and a feast taking place all the way across Southwark Bridge in which diners where serenaded by mariachi singers.

To top off the weekend, samba dancers, drumming troupes and even a group of zombie walkers paraded down the streets from Victoria Embankment to the South Bank, celebrating the last of the summer.

Did you go to the Mayor’s Thames Festival? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Boats and bunting were the order of the weekend at the Thames Revival. The event, part of the Mayor’s Thames Festival, celebrated maritime history with a gathering of classic boats at St Katharine Docks.

There was lots of nautical fun to be had including a vintage tea tent, paper boat racing and a 1930s-themed party, SS Atlantica, aboard the Silver Sturgeon.

Fryderyk Chopin arrived in London on Friday – not the composer but a ship named after him – which has moored on St Katharine’s Pier next to Tower Bridge.

The world’s second largest brig has arrived for the Mayor’s Thames Festival, which takes place from Saturday and I was lucky enough to be invited aboard.

At 40m in height, with a bust of the famous composer, an incredible 23 different sails and more than 130 guide ropes attached, it’s an impressive sight.

The young and enthusiastic crew – all students from Poland – will entertain Londoners and visitors with traditional dances, songs and acrobatics as well as guiding visitors around the ship during their stay in London.

Mr Rafał Szmytke, President of the Polish Tourist Organisation said:

“They’re the best of the best, hand-picked finalists of a national competition. They are young, creative, and passionate about telling the world about their cities, regions and the country.”

I spoke to crew member Michael Szynkarzynshi who told me:

“The whole course took about three months and there were almost 70 students from all around Poland from at least 75 universities and we were specially picked.”

He added “We had to send a special one-minute video presenting ourselves and the most interesting people were chosen.”

The students will be teaching visitors the Polonaise, a traditional Polish dance, leading up to a Guinness World Record attempt for the most people dancing the Polonaise at one time on Sunday 12 September.

Fryderyk Chopin will now  be at Canary Wharf until 12 September. The Mayor’s Thames Festival takes place this weekend.

Click on the video below to see the Fryderyk Chopin crew members in action.