Cultural Wednesday Wishes
28 May - 3 June 2025
Hello
Welcome to Wednesday Wishes
War, books, sounds, flowers and a storehouse are the stars of this week’s Wednesday Wishes. With exhibitions at the Imperial War Museum, the Warburg Institute and the Saatchi Gallery plus a brand new branch of the V&A.
Preparations are underway up on Epsom Downs for the Derby Festival. Here at Cultural Wednesday Towers and in every other household in Epsom the first weekend of June is one of high excitement. Attending the Derby or Oaks is for everyone. Yes, you can get dressed up and mingle with Royals in the Queen’s stand or you can attend from free on the Downs. Take a read of my guide to attending the Epsom Derby and maybe come to downs for a flutter.
Eastbourne is favourite Cultural Wednesday day out destination. It has the lot. Beach, pier and an excellent art gallery. Sussex was a magnet for Modernist artists throughout the 20th century. Their work is celebrated in a new exhibition at the Towner Gallery, Sussex Modernism that opened last week. Work by Virginia Woolf, Ivon Hitchiens and David Bowie among others is on show.
https://www.culturalwednesday.co.uk/modernist-museums-in-sussex/
Where better to see the work of Joseph Wright of Derby than in Derby. Head up to Derby to see Joseph Wright of Derby: Life on Paper that has just opened at Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Works rarely seen in public are on show. Whilst you are in Derby make sure to visit the nearby Museum of the Making which is an excellent celebration of all the things made in Derby since the dawn of industrial revolution. All free to visit and with an excellent cafe.
Have you visited the Royal Mews? They are fascinating. Both an active workplace and a museum. All the carriages and cars on show are in full working order and the horses to pull the carriages live on site. This year the Royal Mews are celebrating 200 years, although some of the carriages are even older.
https://www.culturalwednesday.co.uk/royal-mews-buckingham-palace/
📆 Dates for your diary
Three London festivals. First the Barnes Children’s Literature Festival on 21 - 22 June. All manner of children’s authors. My favourite is Gruffalo illustrator Axel Scheffler. I had the good luck to meet him at a German Tourism Board event last week, he is wonderful. Go just to meet him, it will be worth it.
Join Jane Austen, Emma Thompson, Stewart Lee, Rowan Williams, Sally Phillips and Michael Palin at the Idler Festival this summer. Tickets have gone on sale for the festival on July 11 - 13 at Fenton House in Hampstead. Talks, recitals and glorious gardens, my kind of festival. https://www.idler.co.uk/festival/
Finally, in September, the first ever Chelsea Arts Festival will be taking place. Promised are a literary salon to celebrate the Women’s Prize for Fiction and Sandra Rhodes will be holding court at the Saatchi Gallery. More details will emerge over the summer and tickets are on sale for some events. Keep an eye on the festival website.
Finally … this was the view from our window at the weekend in Falmouth. We were transfixed by the sight of the Viking Saturn reversing out of Falmouth harbour. Next there was an impressive three point turn to get past the navy landing ship. Never a dull moment in Falmouth.
As ever, if you liked this newsletter a quick click on the ❤️ makes me happy (this is for people reading in the substack app). If you really, really like it … how about telling your friends.
Happy Culturing
Hi Catherine, great newsletter as always. You always have such interesting things to visit but I just wondered if you know of any groups that organise visits to these places?