Waterloo Festival 2026: Closing BBQ + Celebration Sunday

As this year's Festival comes to an end, St John's Waterloo invites you to gather in the churchyard for an evening of food and conversation. Enjoy a summer BBQ plus a final chance to see the festival exhibitions.

Inspired by our festival theme - Now I make a leaf of voices - the BBQ brings together the many people that make our community so vibrant.

The BBQ also forms part of St John's Celebration Sunday programme, which aims to bring its various congregation groups together - such as the 20 & 30s group, our Open Table community, as well as our weekday and weekend worship congregations.

We also invite all those who have helped make the Waterloo Festival possible: our amazing local partners, volunteers, artists and all our festival audiences.

It's a great chance to meet other people in the St John's Waterloo community - whether you're a churchgoer or not. Everyone is welcome!

Date: Sunday 12th July
Time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Tickets: £5 (which contributes towards the cost of the event)
Food: BBQ with vegan option available (please select when booking)
Location: St John's Churchyard, SE1 8YT

Read more about the Waterloo Festival here:

About the Festival:

The Waterloo Festival is an annual celebration of arts, community, and heritage hosted by St John’s Waterloo and produced by its secular charity The Bridge At Waterloo. This year's edition runs from Thursday 9th to Sunday 12th July 2026 with a weekend of exhibitions, concerts and events.

About the festival theme:

This year’s theme – Now I make a leaf of voices – celebrates the coming together of people through harmony and polyphony, as well as individual expression. It is a celebration of the voice as a musical instrument, a tool for change, a means for collectivity and creativity. It is the voices of our community: artists, volunteers, participants, neighbours and passers-by.

This year’s Waterloo Festival draws inspiration from St John's role during the Festival of Britain of 1951: 75 years since it was rebuilt, after the Second World War, and 75 years since our venue hosted choral voices from across the country in a post-war celebration of innovation and renewal. St John's continues an ongoing life as a music venue and its enduring commitment to social justice. And once again, our Waterloo Festival weaves together a wide range of voices through art, music and community events.

This year's theme is inspired by Walt Whitman’s roaringly elegant poem “Voices”.