Simon Hughes, deputy leader of the Lib-Dems, launched The Mayor’s Thames Festival 2013 at a reception on the South Bank last night, promising 10 days of ambitious river-focused celebrations. “People cross the Thames but don’t appreciate it, so we decided to make them understand how fundamental it is to how the city works,” he said.
The festival will include an exhibition of 130 specially-commissioned films on those who live, work and play on the Thames as well as an orchestral performance of steamship horns.
Hughes is the MP for Bermondsey and Old Southwark and expressed his love of his area but conceded that those north of the river might wish to explore the festival. “There are tribes found north — but the south is of course the elite part of the city.”
