Things To Do In London On The Cheap: 12-19 May

Lindsey
By Lindsey Last edited 155 months ago

Last Updated 12 May 2011

Things To Do In London On The Cheap: 12-19 May

The cost of living may be set to rise but that won't stop you doing great stuff in London.


Friday: There's lots happening for Museums at Night. The Bank of England Museum will be open for a rare evening focusing on bank notes and giving you the opportunity to lift the gold bar. Open 5.30-9pm at the museum on Bartholomew Lane, just off Threadneedle Street, London EC2R 8AH. And there's a Life and Death Treasure Hunt at the Grant Museum. Meet 6pm at Chadwick LT, Main Quad, UCL Gower Street. Free!

Female indie choir Gaggle sing in the Clore Ballroom at Royal Festival Hall from 6pm, free.

Saturday: See the Westminster Morris Men joined by Morris troops from around the country celebrate Westminster Day of Dance! The tour starts at 10.15am, Westminster Cathedral and convenes at Trafalgar Square for a massed morris at lunchtime and between 5-6pm. Follow them all day for free!

See 130 artists open their studios in one site. Second Floor Studios and Arts (SFSA) in Woolwich SE18 invites you to see the artists at work between 11am-6pm.

The ICA's Artists' Film Surveys look at Margaret Salmon this weekend. Free but booking required.

The Workers' Freestage will see corporate choirs singing their hearts out on the Southbank from 2.30pm whilst indoors from 5pm it's the turn of choirs old and young in the Clore Ballroom.

99p Soul is at the Betsey Trotwood 'never knowingly undersouled', 8pm-1am. Just 99p entry!

Sunday: Family Day at People Show 122: The Pump House Project between 11am-1pm and FREE. Take the kids and explore the project. Part of Wandsworth Arts Festival

More artists open their studios, this time for the second weekend of the Dulwich Festival Artists' Open House between 11am-6pm (also Saturday).

Celebrate Vaisakhi, the Sikh New Year on Trafalgar Square with free live music and dance, 12-6pm.

Learn African dance for free with Nzinga Dance Ensemble at Horniman Museum between 3.15-4pm. Part of Adult Learners' Week.

Queer as Film is a free film night at the Nellie Dean in Soho showcasing new gay short films. 7.30-11pm.

Monday: Thinking and Drinking at the Book Club looks at NASA's space shuttle programme as it draws to a close with a discussion, reading, photos and a doco. £5 in, 7-11pm.

Tuesday: Blake fans can attend 'A New Understanding of William and Catherine Blake's Spirit World and the Underlying Aim of William’s Creativity' a talk hosted by the Blake Society at The City of Westminster Archives Centre, just off Parliament Square. Open to all and free, from 6.30pm.

Wednesday: Bexley's Biketastic fun ride is for novice and intermediate riders building confidence. Meet 6 for 6.30pm at Mill Row, High Street, Bexley for an 8 mile cycle with experienced leaders. Free but please book.

Thursday: Tim Hannigan talks at the Travel Bookshop on “Murder in the Hindu Kush” the story of a man on the forefront of the 'Great Game' between the British Raj and the Russian Empire, and the mighty Maharaja of Kashmir. 7pm, £5 (includes a glass of vino) at 13-15 Blenheim Crescent W11 2EE, 7pm.

Extra: We just found out that there are free lunchtime concerts at the Royal Academy every Wednesday and Friday until 27 May between 1-2pm.

What did we miss? Let us know in the comments.