Lighting up the Lea 2025

Saturday, September 20th 2025 • 11 – 6 pm

It’s been a great Summer and although it’s not yet over, our next open day is coming up!

Lighting up The Lea is our yearly Lea celebration, to open our doors and shine a light on our amazing area and part of the river!

We are so excited to be a part of three festivals for this one, Open House, Totally Thames Festival & Newham Heritage Month.

There will be lots of free activities, workshops, exhibitions, performances & more to shine a light on the ecological and social heritage of the Lower River Lea.

This is also a very exciting one for us as we will be unveiling two new exhibitions:

  • Cabinet of Curiosity No2, a lightbox installation exploring the tidal Lea’s pre-industrial history by the artist Zhiyan Cai.
  • River of Hope installation with flags produced by 750 school children from across Newham, working with the artist Fiona Grady and poet Dauda Ladejobi in collaboration with Thames Festival Trust.

Our Boatyard will also be open for walks and tours Open Day, featuring our first Cabinet of Curiosity and a chance to see the restoration of the Frederick Kitchen up close and personal. It was the “last boat to be built in the last great shipyard in London”.

See you on the 20th September!

September Open Day 2025 Instagram flyer
Open House Festival 2025 Logo
Newham Heritage Month logo
Totally Thames 2025 logo
Made possible with Heritage Fund Logo

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