Totally Thames 2024: Lighting up the Lea

As part of Totally Thames 2024 we’ll be “Lighting up the Lea”. Come and join us on Saturday 21st September, 11 am – 7pm for a family-friendly celebration of the River Lea and Cody Dock.

“This year’s event is particularly exciting as we have done so much to the site since last year and have so many new projects to share. In particular, this will be the first time people will be able to see the plans for our historic lifeboat, the Frederick Kitchen, see it and also hear about King George V being on board the inaugural voyage and the 47 lives it went on to save. We also have a fantastic line-up of music, workshops and ways to get involved in the future of Cody Dock – we’re really looking forward to welcoming visitors, old and new!”

Julia Briscoe, Event Organiser at Cody Dock

Lighting up the Lea is a celebration of the Lower Lea River’s heritage and biodiversity. Packed full of workshops, walks and talks, Lighting up the Lea is a chance for you to come and discover the Lea and all of it’s hidden secrets. Join us for live music and entertainment, enjoy our bar, explore our food and craft stalls and meet our amazing volunteers who make it all happen!

This page will be updated with full details of what is on and when as soon as they are available, so be sure to check in again with us soon. In the meantime, the highlights of the day will include:

• Live folk music from around the world with Newham-based Flotsam Sessions
• Live sea shanties with The HogEye Men
• First ever behind-the-scenes tour of the restoration of the Frederick Kitchen, the historic lifeboat made by the Thames Ironworks in 1913 (see notes for editors)
• River of Hope Exhibition, work by local primary school children following their involvement with Cody Dock and Thames Festival Trust’s ‘River of Hope’ project, an arts-based learning project linking schools around the world through the study of rivers and environmental issues.
• Rolling the Cody Dock Bridge – this is the only bridge of its kind in the world and has won several prestigious architectural and engineering awards and was built by Thomas Randall-Page.
• Choir performances by Newham-based Star Primary School Choir
• Choir performance by Newham-based St Luke’s School choir, with a song written by the children following their involvement with the River of Hope Project
• ‘Your River Lea’ photo exhibition – come and be inspired by last year’s winners and think about submitting photos to this year’s competition. Winning entries will be exhibited next year and are turned into postcards and calendars. 
• ‘Fragile Ecosystems’ Film Screening, by Corinna Dean & Westminster University’s School of Architecture
• DJ sets with DJ Badly Wired and DJ Brima
• Bring your bicycle for repair with the ‘Black Knight’ and enjoy the traffic-free riverside ways
• Refreshments & Food from the Cody Dock cafe, the Cody Dock Bakery and the licensed Riverside Bar
• Live ensemble performance by the award winning music hub Newham Music
• Meet our Ecology team to find out more about the remarkable (and sometimes rather rare) biodiversity in the highly urbanised area surrounding Cody Dock and the tidal River Lea. Learn about the range of Community Science projects on offer and the habitat improvement activities that are planned and chat with us to discuss how you can become involved.
• Common Threads and Plant Stories, two workshops for all ages. Do you have a beloved plant or piece of fabric with a story behind it? Tim, our Therapeutic Gardener and guest artists will lead the first of these exciting workshops that will run over the three years of our Lighting Up the Lea programme, culminating in the creation of a new piece of folk art that will eventually be displayed within our new heritage space. Bring a photo of the plant or a piece of fabric and share your stories. Tim will tell of his late father’s geraniums, beans from China and seeds from all over India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Join us in Cody Dock’s Growing Space.