Totally Thames Vision

Throughout September there is a month long festival of things related to the river Thames called Totally Thames.

Events, either directly organised or coordinated with Totally Thames, range from the Tall Ships, classic yachts, the Great River Race (next weekend), trips on Thames Barge Lady Daphne (which I went on in 2011) the Hippo, exhibition, fire garden, talks, walks, food, fireworks and much, much more - see the web site here.

Its a big step up in scale from previous years and I heard about the organisation's vision from the trust's chair Robert Gordon Clark (above) at one of their events, an archaeological walk to be described in another post.

I was impressed to learn that Totally Thames's plan for next year is even bigger than this one.

Take the famous Hippo (as posted about earlier):

Commissioned from Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman it was purchased outright so it'll be staying here on the Thames in the future rather than popping up around the world, and that cost a rumoured £ 100k.

But in the future Totally Thames wants to see Hippo sized installations all along the Thames, one in each of London's boroughs as part of their aim "to make this the largest river-related celebration anywhere in the world".

I think its absolutely brilliant, for the river is rich in history and connects so many aspects of life in this great city.

I just wish I could do more of the 100+ events on their web site.