A blooming good day out in London

Part of the cultural art exhibition from the Mary Ward Centre at the festival

When: 21st – 23rd October 2011

Where: Various locations around Bloomsbury, London

£: Free

What was it?

The Bloomsbury Festival is an annual free event that takes place around Bloomsbury in London. There were plenty of different activities taking place throughout the weekend including workshops, a craft market, world music from the SOAS stage, displays of art works, walks, talks and dance performances.

I headed down to Russell Square on the Sunday for one of the walks, The Heart of Bloomsbury, a ramble around the area learning about the educational institutions.  Our guide, a graduate student, was enthusiastic if at times hard to hear.  Starting with the early history of the area she lead us from Russell Square around the various buildings giving us a bit of history about each.  These buildings included SOAS, the School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Senate House and the Foundling Museum.

We ended at Goodenough College where we were able to peek into the lawned area where students were busy relaxing over a game of croquet.  Not a sight you see every day.

After the walk I headed back to Russell Square to have a look at some of the other things that were happening.  There was certainly plenty going on including some random dance performances and The Choir with No Name attempting tongue-twisters as part of their warm-up.  In festival tradition there was music, various hot food stalls, a beer tent and people chilling out.  The weather even seemed to be behaving itself for once.

If you didn’t go along this year then below are some more examples of what you missed out on…

The Wellcome Charm Tree, a glittering art installation

The Den in Russell Square designed by Gina Rose Lee and Harriet Wilcox

Young dancers perform in Russell Square

People surround themselves with words under the Poetry Arbour