Waterloo residents Abigail Tripp, member of Flux Soup, Tom Keller, resident of Palm Co-op and Coin Street Community Builders board member, and Natalie Bell, Head of Youth and Community Programmes at Coin Street, remember living through the changes in Waterloo over the last twenty years.   Festivalcast, the Waterloo Festival’s podcast series, is brought […]

  ‘Singing Saved My Life‘ is a series of uplifting five-minute podcasts for the Waterloo Festival. These real-life stories recorded remotely in lockdown show how singing has helped people return to hope after a period of despair, or in other words ‘respair’, the theme of this year’s festival.   “Singing has helped me through difficult […]

  Michal Matlon of HB Reavis presents the latest thinking in building and workspace design, exploring how colours, natural materials and principles contribute to a healthier working environment.       Festivalcast, the Waterloo Festival’s podcast series, is brought to you by Morley Radio.                   In collaboration […]

  The Shot Tower stood nearly 200 ft tall on the river front by Waterloo Bridge for nearly 140 years until the early 1960s, an unmistakeable and important landmark which featured in the everyday life of Londoners. Yet today it is barely remembered.           In this last podcast for 2021 from […]

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  by Shanon Shah           Interior of St John’s Waterloo (Drawing: David Bassadone)       The Waterloo Festival is honoured this year to feature the experiences of Okusinza mu Luganda (Worship in Luganda), the Ugandan congregation linked historically with St John’s Waterloo.       Okusinza mu Luganda commemorates its […]

  Coin Street have been funded by Illuminated River Foundation’s Community Fund to develop and deliver art workshops for young people aged 9+ for the local community.       At Waterloo Festival, we are thrilled to be offering a platform from which to showcase and share the work more widely! We’re hoping to share […]

  For the third time running, Waterloo Festival, in collaboration with Bridge House Publishing, organised a writing competition over the winter along the theme of Transforming Communities. Writers were invited to interpret freely the theme in a 1000-word story. We announced the winners a few weeks ago.   As part of the celebrations, we’ll be […]

  #MakeMusicDayUK       At a time when the near future is increasingly unpredictable, you can be certain of one thing. Make Music Day will happen across the world on 21 June this year. Already established as the UK’s biggest free single-day music event, Make Music Day is an annual, global, grassroots festival that […]

  On the 28th of June 1969 the revolutionary Stonewall Riots kicked off in Manhattan, launching 50 years of hard-fought progress for the LGBT+ community. We hear from Jhonny Salas Alexander of Coin Street Community Builders.           Every year in June, Pride Month is marked with parades, events and demonstrations across […]

  We’re now exploring the Churchyard at St John’s Waterloo, its history, its plants and its kind carers. Jonathan Trustram from the Churchyard of St John’s, remembers with fondness the volunteers.         St John’s Church   Putting Down Roots is the gardening project run by St Mungo’s to provide voluntary work and […]

  While businesses are closed around Waterloo we want to bring you their work and promote their business through our digital festival. We’re starting off our series with The Calder Bookshop and Theatre, an independent bookshop specialising in theatre, philosophy, and politics.       Here, Ana Drinovan has given us a great list of […]

  World Press Freedom Day falls on 3rd May. Through a series of interviews and articles with journalists and activists, our Artistic Director Euchar Gravina is exploring press freedom as a fundamental component of any healthy democracy and transforming communities. This time, we chat with Alessandra Galloni, Head of Global Reuters.       I […]

  In the run-up to and around the 5th of June, World Environment Day, we’ll be exploring our urban environment, the climate change crisis and more over a series of features.       Amid the hustle and bustle of busy Waterloo, Matt Brown discovers seven green oases, each with something different to offer.   […]

  For the third time running, Waterloo Festival, in collaboration with Bridge House Publishing, organised a writing competition over the winter along the theme of Transforming Communities. Writers were invited to interpret freely the theme in a 1000-word story. We announced the winners a few weeks ago.       As part of the celebrations, […]

  For the duration of this year’s Waterloo Festival, Storyradio are our resident storytellers. With a story every two weeks, Storyradio are producing this creative series with a Waterloo theme.           The fourth installement features two shorter pieces (click here to listen!) exploring grief and loss.       Final Unveil […]

  “Collective singing is one of the oldest ways human animals have of being together. It is believed by many archaeologists that Neanderthals sang and made music. Like our ancestors we sing when we are happy, we sing when we are sad, we sing when we are drunk, we sing when we pray, we sing […]

  On the 22nd of June 1948, migrants from countries including Jamaica, Bermuda, Trinidad and British Guiana disembarked from the HMT Empire Windrush in the UK. The first wave of post-war immigration, those who made to the UK were amongst the first to be recruited in programmes to rebuild Britain following the ravages of WWII. […]

  Michelle Zahner has been working in theatre and performance since 2011; she’s toured fringe shows, made short films, worked in set design and stage management. She’s also a playwright; her premiere playscript ‘A Modern Guide to Heroism & Sidekickery’ was published this year, a reviewer describing her performance in that work said “(Michelle) wears […]

  Recorded at the end of June 2020, this episode is led by Maelo Manning, a local Waterloo resident and activist, as she interviews the Member of Parliament for our constituency, Florence Eshalomi.       Florence was elected as Vauxhall’s Member of Parliament (Labour) in late 2019. She talks about adjusting to life as […]

On Sunday, 15th November, St John’s presented an illustrated talk on Hans Feibusch and his forgotten murals in churches all over London and the South East by Emma Rose Barber. Follow the talk below or St John’s YouTube channel. Hans Feibusch (hansfeibusch.blogspot.com) Hans Feibusch (1898-1998) was a superb visionary 20th-century artist few people have ever […]

Coin Street Young Leaders meet weekly to discuss issues relevant to young people, plan events and activities and get to know each other. In the last year, the young leaders have planned and put on a Youth Showcase for local young people to perform including singing, dancing and acting, presented to the Southbank Forum (a […]

by Shanon Shah The Waterloo Festival’s support for Okusinza mu Luganda’s 30th anniversary celebrations spanning 2020 and 2021 continues today with the final part of our interview with co-founder Dorothy Mukasa. In this final part, she tells Shanon Shah her favourite things about Okusinza and her hopes for the congregation. We hope you’re enjoying these […]

St John’s Church, which re-opened its doors* on Monday, 15th June for a few hours everyday for quiet prayer, is hosting an installation by artist Lindy Furby reflecting on the treatment of BAME people during the coronavirus pandemic in the UK. All are welcome to visit. This installation consists of 50 prints of facemasks with […]