SouthWestFest 19th – 28th June 2015 is a community led event, which celebrates all that is great in SW1.

The Festival starts with a bang on the 19th June with The Pimlico Proms, kindly sponsored by Berkeley and St Edward. We have an outstanding line up to look forward to, including headline guests the Kew Wind Orchestra, a trombone ensemble plus a very special guest, opera singer Martin Aelred, famed for singing on the recent movie sound-track for Lord of London.

The Little Museum of Pimlico 19th until the 27th June | 8am – 6pm | Tachbrook Street Market |

Pimlico Playground with the Royal Court 19th, 25th & 26th June | 10am – 3pm | Tachbrook Street Market | Venue 5 For Pimlico Playground, the Royal Court asked six writers with fresh voices to respond to the space lodged between Tachbrook Street Market and Playground. Their frank, funny and original short plays were recorded by actors from Pimlico Academy and Mulberry Alumni Theatre group.

Carnival Parade 20th June | 12.00 pm -12.45pm | From Moreton Street. An extravaganza of colour, costumes, music and dance a book themed parade, where our parade groups will be out in full festival style dressed in quirky costumes and as characters from our favourite children’s stories.

Pimlico Festival

St George’s Square Garden, SW1V 3QW | Our Free Festival Day | 12pm – 6pm 9,000 other local residents are expected on the 20th of June for the annual Festival Gala Day at St. Georges Square in Pimlico. There will be two stages showcasing local talent with live music, performance, dance and entertainment.  There will be a our spectacular children’s parade arrive at the Festival Day with colour, costumes, music, vintage vehicles and a classic London Routemaster bus! All the fun of the fair with rides for all the family. Expect exciting games, crafts, workshops and stalls from over 40 local community organisations, businesses and charities.  There will be free activities for all ages including a pop-up nursery, art acitvities for kids and a graffiti wall and workshop. Enjoy fresh local food and drinks, explorethe pop-up farm and meet the Vauxhall City Farm animals, and try out your skills at cheerleading with the urban street dance workshop.

These are a small fraction of the many events and activities, the full festival is detailed in this brochure .

The Vauxhall Nine Elms Battersea development will bring 25,000 new jobs and 18,000 new homes to the area. Yet Vauxhall’s potential to flourish is held back because it is dominated by traffic.

We want Vauxhall to continue to benefit from this regeneration. We are working with the London Borough of Lambeth on ambitious plans to create a thriving centre for Vauxhall, to make it a better, safer, more vibrant place for everyone who lives, works and travels through it.

The proposals include removing the one-way traffic system around Vauxhall Cross and returning the streets to two-way working, and making improvements to the rail, bus and tube interchange. This will create a safer environment for the growing number of pedestrians and cyclists in the area.

The plans are still at an early stage and we would like to hear your views to help shape the designs we take forward during the next year.

Location – Westminster Abbey

The Rt Hon William Hague MP, First Secretary of State and Leader of the House of Commons will give this year’s One People Oration. The phrase “One People” was coined by Edward Carpenter (then Archdeacon, later Dean of Westminster) in 1965-6. The orations commenced in 1966, and were intended to make people “think not only of all Christian people but of all mankind”.

The talk is entitled:

Humanising hell – diplomacy and the search for peace

Booking (free) is essential: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/westminster-abbey-one-people-oration-with-guest-speaker-the-rt-hon-william-hague-mp-tickets-12148347033