Back before London was London, before it sprawled out to take in a population of millions in thickly-terraced houses, before the M25 sprang up to mark its boundaries, there were a lot of villages around here. Tiny villages, medium-sized villages, villages with village halls and village wells and all the rest of it. Villages with fetes. This year, the end of July is bringing village fetes back to London.
(Picture by Corydora.)
It’s starting on Friday night, with the Victoria and Albert’s traditional late-night Friday opening to mark the end of the month. This month’s Village Fete theme takes the event outside, into the central courtyard gardens, which will be filled with an arty take on the traditional fete stalls: homemade jam, bluegrass music, a “gorgeously greasy grill”, a “knowledge archive”. Unlike most V&A Friday Lates, it isn’t free — entry is £3 for adults and 50p for children — but it’s a village fete in central London; where else are you going to get that?
Well, on the South Bank the day after, actually. The London South Bank University is running their own Village Fete on Saturday afternoon, between 12 and 4. There’ll be Punch and Judy, a coconut shy, even a test-your-strength machine. However, there’ll also be live music and some interactive educational activities from Games Culture, the Academy of Sport, Physical Activity and Wellbeing, and more. There’ll even be a mocked-up crime scene for forensic investigation.
Chances are the V&A fete will be pretty crowded, and better-suited for people who like their village fetes a bit off-kilter, or who want a chance to win strange designer chairs rather than stuffed toys. The South Bank fete, on the other hand, is the place to go if you want a more traditional fete, with all the stalls you’d expect from a fete, and plenty of ice-cream (it’s also just down the river from the carousel and human statues by the Southbank Centre). Of course, there’s nothing stopping you from making a Fete Weekend of it and going along to both.
Friday Late Village Fete: The Victoria and Albert Museum. Friday 27 July 6.30 p.m. - 10.00 p.m., Saturday 28 July 1 p.m. - 5 p.m. £3 adults, 50p children under twelve.
LSBU Village Fete: Keyworth Street, London South Bank University. 12 noon - 4 p.m. Free.
