Irish dancing | >Re-PHOTO

Islington, Charlton & Refugees: On Saturday June 19th 2005 I photographed Imagine Islington, a green festival in Islington, then went out to Charlton for the Horn Fair, before finally returning to central London for a Refugee event taking place as a part of the Coin Street Festival in Bernie Spain Gardens on the South Bank of the Thames in Lambeth. Again I’ll give the texts I wrote at the time with links to more pictures from the events on My London Diary.

Imagine Islington

Islington

Imagine Islington was another green festival, but with rather more fun than some, taking place at 7 locations around the Angel and Islington Green.

On the Green there was music from Rhythms Of Resistance and Weapons Of Sound, a giant mural to paint by ‘Hugh Jart’, an air-miles game and other attractions.

Elsewhere there was a wind installation at St Mary’s Church, a Biodiversity Garden in the NI Centre, the Incredible String Trio Pluck (they described themselves as “the world’s most musically challenged string trio“) in Chapel Market and more.

This was a pleasant event for the family but largely concentrated on the froth rather than the essentials of the challenge the world faces.

More pictures on My London Diary.

Charlton Horn Fair

Charlton House, Charlton

I wanted to go to Charlton simply because the annual Horn Fair there was notorious for its “indecencies and frequent riots“, eventually leading to its suppression by an order in council in 1872.

Unfortunately its modern recreation turned out to be a much more tame affair, although Charlton House remains impressive.

[I also took a few pictures on my journey to Charlton and on my way from there to Coin Street, some also included in my 2006 post.]

More pictures on My London Diary.

Refugee Week, Coin Street: Celebrating Sanctuary

Coin St Festival, Bernie Spain Gardens

Meanwhile in Coin Street, another Refugee Week event, Celebrating Sanctuary, was taking place.

*This Chinese dancer made some great patterns with her long streamers*

*Then we had a fantastic performance by a large group of all ages from Uganda, in various tribal dress and a great deal of energy*

Among the events I photographed were Albanian dancing, a Chinese dancer with long streamers and African dancing from Uganda.

More pictures from the event on My London Diary.

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London St Patrick’s Day Parade: I used to enjoy St Patrick’s Day in London, particularly the parade in Willesden Green on the actual day itself. The main London celebrations take place the Sunday before this, and I made these pictures on Sunday 12th March 2006.

This annual London parade had begun in 2002 when Ken Livingstone, London’s first elected mayor. Though a Londoner, he had long been a supporter of a united Ireland and from 1987 to 2001 was MP for Brent East, a constituency with a large Irish population.

In his years as the leader of the Greater London Council from 1981 until its abolition by Thatcher in 1986 Livingstone had done much to change attitudes in London towards women and minority communities, and on being elected as London Mayor he began his victory speech saying “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted 14 years ago…” and continued these and other policies from his years at the GLC.

One small part of his legacy to London was the opening up of Trafalgar Square to various Community celebrations – though there is much more, including changes to London’s transport begun under the GLC which made much of my photography of London much easier. His successor took the credit for Livingstone’s ‘Boris Bikes’ though Ken was not responsible for the multiple bikes for hire that now litter our pavements in a rather mad private developments of this.

I photographed the first London St Patrick’s Day Parade in 2002. All the pictures here are from the 2006 Parade and below is the short text I wrote for this.

London now has one of the larger celebrations of St Patricks Day, held on the Sunday before the actual day, with a parade from Hyde Park to Trafalagar Square and events there as well as in Leicester Square and Covent Garden.

The parade celebrates the enormous contribution the Irish have made to the capital – approximately 400,000 people of Irish descent form the largest minority group in London. Paraders come from various community associations and other Irish groups and cultural organisations in the London Boroughs, including Irish dancing, music and sports. There are also some groups from Ireland.

Leading the parade is an Irish Wolfhound, the mascot of the London Irish team, along with various Irish leaders and of course the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, more green than red on this occasion.

Unfortunately government cuts under the coalition’s austerity programme meant the Brent council could no longer support the St Patrick’s Day parade in Willesden Green and I last photographed a rather smaller event there in 2013. The London St Patrick’s Parade and St Patrick’s Festival at Trafalgar Square are on Sunday 15 March 2026, but like so many events is much more organised and for me less interesting, and its years since I last went.

More pictures from 2006 on My London Diary

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Tag: Irish dancing

Islington, Charlton & Refugees – 2005

Imagine Islington

Charlton Horn Fair

Refugee Week, Coin Street: Celebrating Sanctuary

London St Patrick’s Day Parade – 2006