“Our mission is to help people find a sense of belonging in their local community while bringing play back to their day-to-day lives,” says Anastasia, co-creator of Play Fair, the first-of-its-kind festival landing at Hackney Bridge on Sat 25th Apr.

It will feature a gathering of over 40 local, passion-driven clubs, volunteer groups, and small businesses from local legends like Headway East London, Knights Club Chess, and East London Waterworks Park to activities to try inc. yoga, zine-making, dodgeball, embroidery and breathwork.

The idea began last summer over in New York when Anastasia and co-creator Chai discussed the challenges of navigating new cities, relating over feelings of being lost, which developed into them throwing Brooklyn’s biggest community event of the summer.

Keen to bring the event to London too, the duo have attracted a wide range of societies and organisations with the simple aim of getting locals to reconnect with each other in the real word and have a load of fun in the process.

Play also returns to the waterside for another energetic summer season, as Bola Beach Tennis is back from Sat 25th Apr running through to the end of Sept, offering court bookings, group coaching sessions and social matchplay at this cross between tennis, badminton and beach volleyball, on the sand in the QEOP near Fish Island.

Meanwhile, Hackney Tennis, who operate in seven different court locations across the borough, are about to offer their own transformative approach to community sport with the introduction of Tai Chi Tennis and Gestalt Tennis, starting Sat 18th Apr. These new styles move beyond traditional competitive play toward a more holistic, mindful experience, adapting the fluidity, balance and breathing of the ancient Chinese martial art for a moving meditation, while the Gestalt principles promote remaining present in the here and now, and support mobility, coordination and mental wellbeing.

Alongside all that, Sadler’s Wells East is hosting a series of events in the Elixir Festival, which explores our changing minds and bodies as we age, particularly in relation to how we dance. Join The Nelken Line as this intergenerational dance weaves its way across the QEOP from, and back to, the Sadler’s public dancefloor on Sun 12th Apr. Then there’s the all-day Get Into Dance event on Sun 19th with inspiring workshops from a wide range of local community dance groups, specialising in everything from Bollywood to Flamenco.

👚 This Sat 11th & Sun 12th Apr, and then every weekend, you’ll find highly rated market Flea London at its new home of Hackney Bridge offering a curated mix of vintage fashion, statement jewellery, art, books, vinyl, cameras, cult design pieces, brocante and one-off homeware finds, plus artisan food stalls too, including fresh bread, jams and olives. The debut weekend also coincides with the next edition of The Giant London Flea on Sun 12th just across the way at the QEOP Car Park, cementing the area’s reputation as the centre of the capital’s pre-loved, vintage and sustainable shopping scene.

📽️ The community-led Passenger Cinema is hosting a special edition event that blends film and dance at The Bath House on Sat 19th Apr. The unique night features a screening of the film Vengo (Tony Gatlif, 2000), followed by a flamenco class led by Maika Jiménez Blanco. The ongoing project aims to create intimate film screenings paired with shared experiences, focusing on stories of cultural identity, movement, and memory.

📚 Adele Parks is the author of 25 bestselling novels including the recent Sunday Times Number One hits Lies Lies Lies and Just My Luck. She’s the very special guest at the next Fish Island Books Supper Club, on Thurs 16th Apr, where she’ll be discussing her latest hit novel, Our Beautiful Mess. Tickets include a copy of the book, a two-course menu and drink at Unlock, and plenty of time to chat with the author.

Clicking these messages to see our partners websites is one simple way you can support The Wick at no cost to yourself (and these trips sounds genuinely cool, too, so do take a look!)

🎶 Hot Ninja Tune artist O’Flynn plays his first ever full live show this Thurs 9th Apr at Colour Factory, giving the artist a chance to dig a whole lot deeper into the sounds he often doesn’t get to play in his acclaimed DJ sets.

🎼 A night of deep rhythms and global dance energy at Grow on Sat 11th Apr as Kula Collective pres. Berber Diffusion, who blend Amazigh pentatonic scales with hypnotic Gnawa rhythms to carry forward a musical tradition born in the Sahara, which has survived generations through travelling musicians, storytelling and ceremony.

🌱 Biosonification workshop and day rave, Plants Can Dance, where you get the chance to make music from plant electrical signals, is back at No.90 Hideout on Sun 19th Apr. Alongside musical experimentation, Earth Percent's Sophia Shnapp will be there to deliver her recent TEDx talk on the initiative to give nature a status as a co-composer, and bio-designer Paul Triechl talk about his new magazine and platform Feral Worlding.

🏛️ The next edition of Hackney Wick Town Hall takes place at Trowbridge Gardens on Wed 15th Apr with Becky Sampson from the Canal & River Trust exploring interventions to reduce crime and share experiences of being impacted by crime on the towpath, a chance to share local priorities and hear updates on ongoing projects and opportunities, too.

♻️ The HW&FI Community Development Trust is launching guidance supporting developers, local authorities and practitioners in creating Circular Economy Hubs at a special event at The Loop on Thurs 16th Apr, open to developers, planning and sustainability officers, consultants, academics and anyone interested in being part of such a hub.

🎨 Queen Mary University of London is seeking an East London-based artist to design an original, permanent artwork for its Mile End Campus. The selected design will be realized as a perforated metal screen located in a new meadow between the School of Business and Management and the Arts One building. The winning £6k commission will be a thought-provoking design that acts as a campus landmark. Apply by 23rd Apr.

🖌️ Hackney Council is inviting applications from a Hackney-based artist aged 18-26 to create the key visual for their 2026 Discover Young Hackney programme of summer activities aimed at local youth. The winning design will be used across a range of promotional materials including printed posters, leaflets, digital platforms and social media, and be paid a fee of £1,000. It’s a great opportunity for an emerging artist or designer to contribute to a borough-wide creative programme and have their work featured across a public campaign. Apply by Fri 17th Apr.

👩🏼‍💼 Bring fresh talent into your local business with significant financial support by securing one of the final 10 slots in the University of Staffordshire’s Graduate Accelerator Internship Programme. It provides funding for a 160-hour internship, requiring your company to cover only 30% of the cost (£950 + VAT) while the University handles the recruitment, payment, and support of the graduates. You can recruit a funded intern from any course including specialists in marketing, digital, finance, engineering and admin. Contact [email protected].

💷 The Loughborough University London Open Fund is a grant of up to £1000, available to organisations/groups based within and working in one or more of the London Boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Newham or Waltham Forest, to assist with the delivery of projects on the themes of health and wellbeing, sustainability and inclusivity. Apply by Mon 20 Apr.

🤲🏼 Last call for a free week of coworking space at Plexal, starting from Mon 13th Apr, where you can join 150+ other businesses in their ecosystem and access a dedicated range of resources, programmes and guidance to help you grow.

📝 The Verity Bargate Award for new writing is for all first-time writers, late starters, or people who’ve been sitting on an idea for years. Submit something urgent or funny or devastating that won’t leave you alone, put it on the page and the winner will receive £12,000 and a full production at Soho Theatre. Deadline: Mon 13th Apr.  

📢 Up Projects are looking for a new permanent part-time (3-days a week) Head of Partnerships & Communications to work with them on achieving a world class creative programme, resilient business model, increased organisation profile and thriving team. Apply by 19th Apr.

📕 The Wick Book is a stunning limited edition 160-page hardback historic record, looking at 15 years of culture, community and change in the neighbourhood through the pages of The Wick. We’re now down to the last 200+ copies, and they won’t last long…

BUSINESSES: profile your own local venture in a video and share your offers and events to over 8,000 locals via this newsletter and 1,000s more on our social channels. Sign up to The Wick Business Community today.

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