Waterloo Festival 2021: Respair | May & June

Respair, the return of hope after a period of despair, is a word that fell out of use many centuries ago but we’re reviving it as we celebrate the brighter future that vaccines will bring and the rebirth of real-life creativity and shared experience.

We’re also celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Festival of Britain, a “return of hope”, for which St John’s, badly damaged by a war-time bomb, was restored and made the official Festival Church. Now, as then, out of a period of crisis and loss comes a fresh determination to make the world a better place. We’ll be championing the renewed focus on equality, inclusion and climate change that has emerged during the pandemic.

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At the end of the Festival, St John’s will close for a major restoration, its first since 1951. Before it disappears under cladding, we’re inviting creative partners from across London to use our much-loved London landmark, its crypt and churchyard, as their canvas to celebrate respair and to anticipate the re-opening of St John’s in 2022, restored to its Festival of Britain glory, fit to serve the community, and a beacon of hope for the century to come.