A rainy local street scene with umbrellas, warm lights, and cosy indoor plans

Top Picks

Rainy Day Picks This Weekend

11–12 July Near Chislehurst

Not every listing gets a golden ticket

We check the usual frankly silly number of local websites, then look for events that feel rainy-day friendly: cinemas, theatres, talks, workshops, galleries, concerts, cosy venues, and anything less likely to involve standing in a muddy field making brave weather noises.

Happening Saturday 11 July to Sunday 12 July.
Picked for Chislehurst, not somewhere halfway across the county.
Only Local Gems and Curated venues make the cut, because standards are still a thing.
Listings with proper descriptions get bumped up the list. Three words and a shrug will not do.

Our 10 picks near Chislehurst

Saturday LOW INTERMEDIATE+ @ GEORGE GREENS School1

Saturday LOW INTERMEDIATE+ @ GEORGE GREENS School

at Tower Hamlets Badminton Meetup

**Saturday - Lower Intermediate+ @ George Green's** Come and join our friendly badminton club for a fun and competitive doubles session at George Green’s School in Tower Hamlets! **How it works** * Book your spot here on Meetup – spaces are limited. * Pay by bank transfer before the session – bank details are provided below. * Bring your own racket and non-marking indoor shoes. Feather shuttles are included. **Level** This is a **Lower Intermediate+ session**. You should be able to play clears, smashes, drops, drives, and net shots consistently in games. All players **must be at the right level** for this session. Badminton levels vary between clubs, so we strongly recommend checking out our **Instagram page** to see what *we* class as **Lower Intermediate, Intermediate, and High Intermediate** before booking. We always use the **first game as a level check**. If it becomes clear during that game that the standard isn’t the right match for this session, **you won’t be able to continue beyond that point**. As a **small community club**, we’re unfortunately **unable to offer refunds** in these situations. Please **only book a session if you are happy to accept these conditions**. **Stay connected** We have a club WhatsApp group for updates, photos, and extra playing opportunities.

6.2 milesSat 11 Jul10:10ce £12 per session, payable in advance (all first time players must pay at least 24 hours before session start time, or
Local gemSee the details→
Community
community2

Is Small Beer on the Bermondsey Beer Mile

at Small Beer Brew Co.

The Small Beer brewery and taproom is close to several craft breweries and bottle shops that make up the Bermondsey Beer Mile. If you're tackling the Bermondsey Beer Mile on a Saturday, we recommend starting in the Small Beer taproom, and then making your way up to London Bridge, where your food and public transport options are plentiful. Alternatively, you can do it the other way around, kicking things off on Druid Street and ending your day in South Bermondsey, where you can visit Four Pure and Small Beer before closing time at 10pm.

7.6 milesSat 11 Jul23:00
Local gemSee the details→
Community

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Flirting (35mm)3

Flirting (35mm)

at David Lean Cinema

FLIRTING (35mm) 1991 | Dir John Duigan | Australia | 95 min Stars: Noah Taylor, Nicole Kidman, Thandie Newton The second autobiographical film by Duigan after The Year My Voice Broke. Taylor again plays Danny, now at a rural boarding school, where he meets Thandiwe, the rebellious daughter of African parents, who studies at the nearby Girl’s college. Before long a romance develops between the two, who must get around the rules of both institutions to see each other. This tender and perceptive film sees early performances from female stars Kidman and Newton, as well as Naomi Watts. A 35mm presentation in association with The Cinema Museum. Saturday 11 July at 2.00pm Get Tickets

8 milesSat 11 Jul
Local gemSee the details→
Community
Young Conductors Mentoring Scheme with Crouch End Festival Chorus4

Young Conductors Mentoring Scheme with Crouch End Festival Chorus

at Making Music - Scotland

2 dates from 01 Sep 2024 Making Music Member Event Summer concert: O Mistress Mine 10 Jul 2026 07:30 pm to 09:00 pm A delicate summer poesy of song, with music to touch the heart strings. Making Music Member Event Come and Sing Mozart Requiem 11 Jul 2026 12:30 pm to 07:00 pm Come and sing Mozart Requiem Making Music Member Event South Birmingham Sinfonia: Spain and beyond 11 Jul 2026 03:00 pm to 05:30 pm South Birmingham Sinfonia: Spain and beyond Making Music Member Event Summer Showcase 11 Jul 2026 03:00 pm to 04:00 pm Making Music Member Event Make More Sail - Summer Concert 2026 11 Jul 2026 05:00 pm to 08:30 pm Make More Sail by Adrian Bawtree and Gloria by Francis Poulenc Making Music Member Event Eltham Choral Society Summer Concert 11 Jul 2026 07:00 pm Eltham Choral Society Summer Concert Making Music Member Event A Night at the Proms 11 Jul 2026 07:00 pm Derby Concert Orchestra 11 July 2026 concert Making Music Member Event Wombourne & District Choral Society 11 Jul 2026 07:30 pm to 09:30 pm Wombourne & District Choral Society Summer Concert 2026 Making Music Member Event Rutter Gloria 11 Jul 2026 07:30 pm Choral and brass concert Making Music Member Event

9.2 milesSat 11 Jul
Local gemSee the details→
Festivals & Events
2026 Visionary Art Intensive with Alex Grey & Allyson Grey5

2026 Visionary Art Intensive with Alex Grey & Allyson Grey

at City of Solution Ministries

ABOUT THE PROGRAM: Applications are now CLOSED for the 2026 Visionary Art Intensive. Thank you to all who applied! Applications for the 2027 Visionary Art Intensive will open in the fall of 2026. We look forward to seeing your application. Stay connected on the CoSM Newsletter for premier updates. Visionary artists Alex Grey & Allyson Grey teach painting and drawing from the wellspring of divine imagination. In this workshop, artists create from the sacred ground and the mystic eye. Alex & Allyson led The Visionary Art Intensive for 28 years at Omega Institute. Beginning this past summer of 2025, the Visionary Art Intensive is now being offered at CoSM’s charming classroom, the MAGI Art Lab (Mystic Artists Guild International.) Visionary Art Intensive at CoSM, class of 2025 Throughout this seven-day workshop, all participants will have the opportunity to share sketches and works in progress emerging from daily vision practices, and access funnels toward vision-manifestation. APPLY NOW: VISIONARY ART INTENSIVE Tuition & Meals: $1400.00 —Accommodations additional & recommended to stay onsite. Through illustrated talks, vision practices, and group interaction, we empower the process of bringing our heart’s iconography to outer form and examine the global & venerable Visionary Art tradition. Using guided imagery, meditation, shamanic ascent, and practices to envision body, mind & soul, we open the doors of the imagination to the theater of revelation.

9.4 milesSun 12 Jul18:00
Local gemSee the details→
Community
Rhythms of London6Free! (worth double-checking)

Rhythms of London

at St. Margaret's House

Rhythms of London explores the city through contrast, movement, and close observation. The exhibition brings together two interconnected bodies of work that reflect different layers of urban experience. The first focuses on trees, abstract foliage, and museum interiors. These works capture quieter moments within the city, where natural forms and architectural spaces create a sense of pause. Branches, leaves, and structural elements are observed and reinterpreted through line, colour, and composition, revealing underlying rhythms that often go unnoticed. In contrast, the second body of work turns towards people and movement. Figures appear fragmented and fluid, dissolving into colour and gesture. These works respond to the pace and density of city life — the constant flow of bodies, overlapping trajectories, and fleeting interactions. Rather than depicting individuals, they evoke the collective energy of London as a shared, ever-changing environment. Together, the two series present London as a space shaped by opposing forces: stillness and motion, clarity and ambiguity, solitude and collective presence. The shift between quiet observation and dynamic movement reflects the way the city is experienced — not as a fixed image, but as a sequence of changing impressions.

9.7 milesSun 12 Jul
Local gemSee the details→
Community
cinema7

Mandy

at Close-Up Cinema

Mandy Panos Cosmatos , 2018, 121 min Mandy “is a midnight-movie festival unto itself, over two gonzo hours, it combines giallo, Clive Barker , Death Wish , prog rock, heavy metal, Heavy Metal, Guy Maddin , Mad Max , the dueling-chainsaw climax of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 , Nicolas Roeg , and Nicolas Cage at his most bugging-out unhinged. Were scientists to engineer an uncut, 100-proof cult sensation, it would probably look, sound, and kick like this. Of course, like a lot of synthetic drugs, Mandy could also cause its fair share of overdoses, at least for those with a less-than sky-high tolerance for nonstop ‘trippy’ lunacy.” – A. A. Dowd Screening as part of our Histoire(s) du cinéma series

9.9 milesSat 11 Jul
Local gemSee the details→
Cinema
cinema8

I Don't Want to Sleep Alone

at Close-Up Cinema

I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone Tsai Ming-liang, 2006, 115 min “Kuala Lumpur replaces Taipei as Tsai’s metropolis of choice in I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone , but the return to his country of birth certainly doesn’t yield any fondness or nostalgia – a sense only strengthened by the Malaysian Censorship Board’s outlawing of the film. Oppressively grimy, littered with half-built corporate structures and neglected shantytowns, and eventually draped in the smoke of a nearby wildfire, the Malaysian capital is portrayed as an eerie labyrinth of alienation, where vagrants and loners of various cultural backgrounds scrape by on low-paying construction and service jobs. Lee Kang-sheng embodies a pair of such figures, both unnamed in the film: one a battered immigrant labourer found on the street by a nurturing young man named Rawang (Norman Atun), the other a paralyzed figure who is taken in by a tender coffee shop waitress (Chen Shiang-chyi). As ever, Tsai makes breathtaking use of space, juxtaposing the cramped and tangled interiors of apartment buildings with the cavernous gorges of multi-story construction sites. A peaceful night’s sleep with a warm body proves to be the elusive objective of the uniformly taciturn ensemble, and, as such, mattresses join Tsai’s rotating set of pet motifs, ultimately featuring prominently in a closing image of exquisite serenity.” – Harvard Film Archive Screening as part of our Histoire(s) du cinéma series

9.9 milesSat 11 Jul
Local gemSee the details→
Cinema
cinema9

The Marriage of Maria Braun

at Close-Up Cinema

The Marriage of Maria Braun Rainer Werner Fassbinder , 1978, 120 min "A parable of post-World War II Germany, Fassbinder's film recounts the transformation of an impoverished war bride into a mercenary business woman. The best known of Fassbinder's trilogy of historical films about the Federal Republic's "economic miracle" of the 1950s and one of the major productions of the New German Cinema , The Marriage of Maria Braun is equally a melodrama of the highest order – Fassbinder's successful realization of his desire to create for Germany the equivalent of a classic Hollywood movie. Maria's failures at fidelity become a metaphor for the false optimism of the society that surrounds her: we hear Adenauer in the background succumb to weakness as his pledge never to rearm the nation falls victim to the irresistible allure of power." – Harvard Film Archive Screening as part of our Histoire(s) du cinéma series

9.9 milesSun 12 Jul
Local gemSee the details→
Cinema
The Close-Up Show - Real Magic Real Close10

The Close-Up Show - Real Magic Real Close

at Churchill Theatre

An intimate evening of close-up magic, trickery and sleight of hand. Close-up magic is one of the most popular and impressive forms of the art, and this event showcases some of the best exponents. Enjoy three performances at three tables as the magicians rotate and entertain. Age Restriction 11+

2.7 milesSat 11 Jul
Local gemSee the details→
Community

More Top Picks

Keep the good ideas rolling

If this page has done the trick, there is more where that came from.

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