Celebrate May Day on the docks

As part of a drive to spend some time outside London, your author is off to Rochester today for the annual Sweeps Festival, but for people looking for something a little more London-centric, the Museum in Docklands is hosting events with a distinct May Day theme.


In the build up to a May Day procession at 3pm, the Museum is offering folk dancing, a Jack in the Green making workshop, storytelling and other events.

For more, see http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/Docklands/Whats-on/Events/

Mark Good Friday at the Widows Son

A creature of habit, your author is once again away for Easter, and will be therefore conducting his annual tradition of missing the Hot Cross Bun Ceremony at the Widow's Son, E3, an East London tradition which takes place each year on Good Friday.


As previously covered here, we are told that the pub takes its name from a cottage which once stood on the site, inhabited by a widow and her only son, a sailor due to return home on Good Friday 1824, who had asked for hot cross buns to mark his return.

When the son failed to materialise, his mother continued to bake Hot Cross Buns every Good Friday, and left them waiting for him. The ceremony sees a new bun hung from a beam in the pub, as the mother had hung them from the beam in her cottage, and has been kept alive since 1848, when the cottage was replaced by a pub

For more, see here

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Have a Chocolate Adventure at Kew

In an attempt to appeal to the family market this Easter, Kew Gardens are trying their best to make chocolate seem educational, bringing together the ancient history of the Maya and the Theobroma Cacao growing in their Princess of Wales Conservatory, which weary parents can use to try to teach the kids about where chocolate comes from.


Your author can't fault them for trying, and if you have little ones in tow it sounds like Kew have put on some entertaining stuff over the holidays, with a pretend ruined Maya village, craft workshops and even origami to hopefully divert even the shortest attention span.

For more, see http://www.kew.org/visit-kew-gardens/whats-on/easter/maya-chocolate-adventure-trail/index.htm

Visit the Roots and Shoots Garden

A half-acre wildlife garden in Kennington, the Roots and Shoots Wildlife Garden Study Centre is part of a broader project to allow local people to study learn about wildlife.


The garden is home to an array of insect species, as well as breeding and migrating birds and pond life, and is open today for an open day with storytelling, microscope workshops, pond dipping, art and refreshments for all the family.

For more, see http://www.rootsandshoots.org.uk/2012/03/spring-open-day-2/

Celebrate Twelfth Night on the South Bank

The Lion's Part hold their annual Twelfth Night Celebrations on the South Bank from 12.45pm today, in a performance event featuring a Mummers Play, Wassailing, a symbolic Holly Man and more traditional ends to the Christmas season.


Though Twelfth Night was officially two days ago, on January 6th, the Lions Part are a group of professional performers who chose to celebrate it on the nearest weekend, using traditional English heritage to mark the changing of the seasons, using the South Bank beside the Globe Theatre and the George Inn on Borough High Street to stage their free performance.

For more, see http://www.thelionspart.co.uk/twelfthnight/index.html

_{^Picture © Mr Jaded used under Creative Commons^}

Admire the windows of Willesden‏

It's Christmas Day in about about a week, and to celebrate the season Willesden Green shops are hosting Windows on Willesden Green transforming 25 shop windows into an advent calendar with the help of designers and architects.


This weekend promises extra festivities, with a treasure hunt, workshops, a barbershop quartet, mince pies and and a tour of Willesden with a blue badge guide.

For more, see http://willesdenwindows.com/

Attend the Advent Procession at St Paul's

One of the setpiece church services to mark the beginning of advent and the Christmas season takes place at St Paul's Cathedral this evening, when worshippers gather together for the Advent Procession.


Your author is godless, but there is something very special about these types of services, such is the magical atmosphere of the darkened Cathedral, and the musical programme focusing on the Advent theme of light in darkness, whilst the choir - illuminated by candlelight - make their procession from darkness to light.

It's free to attend and all kicks off at 6pm. For more, see http://www3.london.anglican.org/resources/Events/event-13980/Advent%20Procession%20at%20St%20Paul's.pdf

_{^Picture © Paul-in-London used under Creative Commons^}

Browse the new Hoxton Street Market

Placed as it is at the heart of that place where all the idiots hang out, Hoxton Street Market could never maintain it's shabby East London charm, and so it was that last month it was relaunched as a market for jewellery, ceramics, art and fashion.


Today, the market is hosting what seems to be an unnecessarily early Christmas Street Party, with music and seasonal food, which according to their pointless PR company (your author was planning on covering it anyway) is designed to allow visitors to "get their pressies (sic) early or just partake in the crimbo (sic) joy!". Oh, god...

The market takes place on Hoxton Street from 10am to 6pm. For more information, see http://hoxtonstreetmarket.co.uk

Collect conkers in Greenwich Park

Two lines of aesculus hippocastanum run along Blackheath Avenue in Greenwich Park. Better known as horse chestnut trees, these trees give a harvest of beautiful conkers at this time of year. With the amazing winds we saw yesterday at the tail end of Hurricane Katia, the ground is more littered with horse chesnuts than ever, and they're now ready for collecting.


The avenue itself is the park's main axis, and was set out in 1660 and aligned directly on the Queen's House at the bottom of the hill. Whilst only four of its original sweet chestnut trees survive, there are some fantastic horse chestnuts, introduced to replace the avenue’s original sweet chestnuts or elms.

Today, the avenue now provides parking for visitors to the park along each side, making it a great place to stop if you're after a bit haul of conkers.

For more on Greenwich Park, see http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/Greenwich-Park.aspx

Meet the ducklings at the London Wetland Centre

Today is the final day of the Easter egg-stravaganza at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, Barnes, with the Trust inviting visitors to see their duckling displaysand follow the progress of 'real-life Easter eggs'.


April, we are told, is the time when wild ducklings start to hatch, and the Trust allows young and old to learn about them and see them taking their first swim in their very own pool, with wardens on hand to explain how the ducklings have developed and about their behaviour and habitats.

For more information, see http://www.wwt.org.uk/visit-us/london/events/easter

_{^Picture © Jim Linwood used under Creative Commons^}

Watch the Mayor's New Year's Eve fireworks

Probably one of the most iconic events of the London calendar, the Mayor's New Year's Eve fireworks take place in the area around the London Eye and draw around 250,000 people to stand in special viewing areas along Victoria Embankment, Westminster Bridge and Waterloo Bridge, and many more who don't quite make it in.


Entry is free and you're allowed to take your own booze. They've even laid on toilets, which is probably sensible, as the areas are open at around 8pm, and you are advised to be at your chosen vantage point by 10pm.

The Greater London Authority has brought in external excitement generators Jack Morton Worldwide to organise it all and, as if it was some sort of draw, BBC Radio 1 DJ Nihal will also be playing some pop records.

For more information, see http://www.london.gov.uk/get-involved/festivals/newyearseve, and if you're in the area it might also be a good idea to print out an entry letter for Gordon's Wine Bar, in order to ensure that you can get in.

_{^Picture © Mahésh Shrestha used under Creative Commons^}

Skate at the Tower of London

At this time of year, many ice rinks pop up around London, and one that is certainly rather picturesque is the Tower of London Ice Rink, skating against the backdrop of the historic battlements of the Tower itself.


The rink has been set up in the former moat of the Tower, and uses real ice, unlike some of those other fake-ice rinks you can find. It isn't cheap, though, with a skating session setting you back between ten and twelve pounds. It is, however, a fantastic setting.

The rink is open 10am until 10pm, until 10th January 2011. For more information see http://www.toweroflondonicerink.com/

_{^Picture © chris friese used under Creative Commons^}

Take part in the Festival of Winter Walks

The Rambler's Association is this year organising a Festival of Winter Walks, and has teamed up with soup manufacturers Baxters to tell us all about it. However, they aren't doing a fantastic job as the first your author knew about it was when he noticed it on IanVisits' unrivalled London Events Calendar.

Today in London, the festival takes keen walkers on trips around the Medieval Manor of Hendon and on a local walk around Richmond, but the festival goes on until 3rd January, so there are plenty of days to take part.

It all sounds jolly pleasant, and best of all the walks are free, so you can save your money for a hearty bowl of soup afterwards. For more on today's walks, see here, or for details on the whole season around the country click here.

Attend the First Eucharist of Christmas & Blessing of the Crib at Westminster Abbey

If you're looking for somewhere atmospheric to see in a proper Christian Christmas, you should consider heading down to Westminster Abbey this evening for the First Eucharist of Christmas & Blessing of the Crib at 11.30pm.


It finishes up a number of services in the Abbey today, which will probably be at its most festive, and is your chance to experience an excellent evening the Abbey.

For more information on all today's services, click here.

_{^Picture © Jay Bergesen used under Creative Commons^}

Go on a carol crawl

A reader recently contacted your author to suggest that if anyone finds themselves in Hackney this evening with nothing to do, they might consider joining the 'carol crawl', for some old fashioned singing and a seasonal wander.


This new idea from a group cringingly calling themselves the 'Fun Army', who are presumably Hackneyites, will see singers meeting at the Pub on the Park at 7pm, for a carol crawl beginning at 7.30pm, to follow a 'secret route' around the streets of London Fields.

Participants are asked to bring warm jumpers, Mulled Wine, Mince Pies, lanterns or torches and a clear voice. The organisers will provide the song sheets.

For more information, click here or here.

_{^Picture © Steve Punter used under Creative Commons^}

Go sledging on Parliament Hill

Your author took a walk on Hampstead Heath yesterday, and wandered up to Parliament Hill, where the sledgers were out in force. Many were making do with tea trays and even road signs to slide down the hill, during an excellent dump of sledging snow.


The main sledging run has already been compacted to a sheet of ice, but was holding up well despite thousands of people making use of it. There are also fantastic views to a snowy central London.

For an article on sledging on Parliament Hill, written in a year with rubbish snow, see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7867738.stm

Sing carols around the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree

At this time of year, the Trafalgar Square Christmas Tree assumes a place in your author's mind - and surely in the minds of many Londoners - as the centre of London's Christmas celebrations, and the ongoing season of Christmas carols around the tree are a key part of this.


The traditional carol-singing season began this year on Tuesday 7th December, and runs until Wednesday 22nd, allowing a range of organisations to lead carols in the evenings from around 5pm to 9pm, and raise funds for voluntary or charitable organisations.

This evening you can see the Mickleham Choral Society from 5pm until 6pm, followed by the Spitalfields Crypt Trust until 7pm, then Global Action Plan until 8pm, and finally the Starry Night Singers, who close the singing at 9pm.

For more, see http://www.london.gov.uk/trafalgarsquare/events/xmas.jsp

Browse the Columbia Road Christmas Tree Market

Your author usually tries not to mention the same road twice in a week, but we are right in the middle of Christmas-tree-buying season, and so he thought readers might like to know that, this time of year, the weekly flower market in Columbia Road also gets Christmassy.


It's not a great time for flowers, so the sellers tend towards wintry plants, holly wreaths and Christmas Trees, and they sell like hotcakes. As readers might imagine, the prices are a little steeper than at your local B&Q, but Columbia Road has always been more about the experience than the value and you can pick up a tree for less than £20.

For more, and directions, see http://columbiaroad.info/map.html

Go late Christmas shopping on Columbia Road

There are some great little shops on Columbia Road, in East London, and every year for the past five they have been opening late in December to encourage after-work shoppers to the area.


Today marks the second late shopping evening of the season, with around forty stores on the street flogging their wares from 6pm until 9pm, accompanied by seasonal foods, music and fun.

Your author has always been especially keen on independent shops, and Columbia Road is one of an ever-increasing number of streets in our city claiming to be wholly made up of independent outlets. As such, it is the perfect place to pick up unusual gifts for friends and family, visit a fantastic pub, or just relax and enjoy the festivities.

This year's late openings are on December 1st, 8th, 15th and 22nd, in Columbia Road, E2. For more information, see http://columbiaroad.info/

Buy a gift at the Present & Correct Pop-In Shop

Twee stationers Present & Correct open up a Christmas pop-in shop at the House of Propellers in Clerkenwell today, transforming the space into a festive vintage school classroom to show off their range of present ideas.


Gifts start at £2.50, and feature a range of original items from new and carefully sourced vintage lines, so this is your chance to stock up on anything from a rare and out-of-print book or poster to a vintage Olivetti typewriter, a set of hand-printed jotters, or just some fairly smart-looking pencils.

Your author will be honest, founder Neal Whittington asked him to write this, but he's a thoroughly nice chap, and has been creating, collecting and selling his wares in London since 2003, so it was a pleasure to help.

The shop is located at 5 Back Hill, in Clerkenwell, and is open from today until Tuesday 21st December, Monday to Saturday, 12 noon – 6.30 pm. There are also late openings until 9pm on Thurdays.

For more information, see http://www.presentandcorrect.com/

_{^Picture © Present & Correct used under Creative Commons^}