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

Top Picks

Rainy Day Picks This Weekend

11–12 July Near Poles

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 Poles, 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 Poles

community2

'An organist in Norway'

at St Mary the Virgin

'An organist in Norway' Occurring for 2 hours Venue St Mary's Ware Address Church Street Ware, SG12 9EH, United Kingdom An illustrated talk with Norwegian 'afternoon tea' given by Malcolm Pentelow who spent 20 year working as an organist and district musician in two districts of Norway. Entry by donation 'Celebrating the Organ' event

3.6 milesSat 11 Jul16:30
CuratedSee the details
Community

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Concert of Summer Songs & Music3Free! (worth double-checking)

Concert of Summer Songs & Music

at St Peter

Concert of Summer Songs & Music Occurring for 1 hour Venue St Peter's, Buntingford Address Chapel End Buntingford, SG9 9AL, United Kingdom You are welcome to come along to a special concert of Summer Songs and Music by the Priory Singers and Wild About Recorders. There is no charge for entry, donations will be gratefully received for St Peter's Church. Saturday July 11 at 3 pm. Concert

7.9 milesSat 11 Jul16:00
CuratedSee the details
Live Music
In-Person Group Hypnobirthing Course London - Dates 20266

In-Person Group Hypnobirthing Course London - Dates 2026

at The Hypnobirthing Midwife - group classes in Leyton

July Sat 11 & Sun 12 July 2:30pm to 7pm (in person both days) Pause Leyton London E10 6NQ + 15 July 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 22 July 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 29 July 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 3 Aug 6:30pm (in person) Check availability Sept Sat 26 & Sun 27 Sept 2:30pm to 7pm (in person both days) Pause Leyton London E10 6NQ + 30 Sept 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 7 Oct 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 14 Oct 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 19 Oct 6:30pm (in person) Check availability Nov Sat 14 & Sun 15 Nov 2:30pm to 7pm (in person both days) Pause Leyton London E10 6NQ + 18 Nov 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 25 Nov 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 2 Dec 7:30-9:30pm (Zoom) 7 Dec 6:30pm (in person) check availability

18.4 milesSun 12 Jul
Local gemSee the details
Workshops & Classes
Workshops Events7

Workshops Events

at Samya Studios

This workshop series is for keen experienced students, yoga teachers and teachers-in-training. We will work through a series of postures and analyse how each student might find more space and alignment in each posture. Mouse will then show how to assist each of the poses and then you’ll have a chance to practice the assists on each other. This will help you to start developing an analytical and anatomical approach to asana. Hands on assists are a wonderful and useful part of the yoga practice and can be both therapeutic and educational. Mouse will share her systematic approach to all assistants so you can apply these skills to any asana and build your confidence.

20.2 milesSat 11 Jul
Local gemSee the details
Community
Rhythms of London8Free! (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.

20.9 milesSun 12 Jul
Local gemSee the details
Community
cinema9

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

21.4 milesSat 11 Jul
Local gemSee the details
Cinema
cinema10

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

21.4 milesSat 11 Jul
Local gemSee the details
Cinema

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