Lighting Up The Lea

‘Lighting Up the Lea’  is a free riverside festival, suitable for all ages. Expect a day packed with activities, workshops, exhibitions, performances, live music & more.

Cody Dock will be shining a light on the ecological and social heritage of the Lower River Lea. Come & explore the ever-growing site as it expands even further to be a community hub for ecology, arts & local heritage.

Some exciting features of this year’s festival:

The Unveiling of ‘Cabinet of Curiosity No2’, an interactive, lightbox installation exploring the tidal Lea’s pre-industrial history by the artist Zhiyan Cai. Funded by The Heritage Fund.

Cody Dock Boatyard Open Day, featuring our first Cabinet of Curiosity, exploring the history of Thames Ironworks alongside  the restoration of the Frederick Kitchen – “The last boat to be built in the last great shipyard in London”.

‘River of Hope’, an installation featuring festival flags produced by 750 school children from across Newham working with the artist Fiona Grady and poet Dauda Ladejobi.

A first chance to get involved with our new year long project ‘Common Threads’, in partnership with V&A East Storehouse led by artist Remiiya Badru. We invite residents of Newham to share their own history and heritage through finding the common threads that unite us & contributing to an art piece that will be displayed at the unveiling of our new Heritage pavilion, ‘The Boathouse’ in 2026.