FANS OF ALL things nautical should head to St Katherine's Docks on the River Thames for this year's Thames Revival. The festival takes place on the weekend of 11 to 12 September and celebrates vintage glamour, classic boats and the golden days of sailing,

St Katherine's Docks, in the shadow of Tower Bridge, will welcome over fifty classic boats, including vintage Oyster Smacks, Thames Barges, Oxford and

Cambridge boats and classic yachts. Sailors and visitors will come dressed in classic sailing costume matching the era of their boat. Throughout the day, live swing and jazz bands will play and you can have a go at old-fashioned deck games such as shuffleboard, watch 'Row of War' in the Centre Basin and learn boat-building skills. The bar, run by Bourne and Hollingsworth, will serve signature classic cocktails and champagne, and there'll be real ales straight out of the Shepherd Neame Victorian Thames Barge anchored nearby. Food will include a hog roast, sausage sarnies, and afternoon tea.

The Thames Revival is part of The Mayor's Thames Festival, an exciting mix of arts, spectacle and entertainment, all focused around the River Thames each September. There's street arts, performance, carnival, pyrotechnics, illuminations, art installations, exhibitions, river events, massed choirs, circus, music and dance, food and feasting. The finale is a magical illuminated Night Procession that winds along the north and south banks of the Thames, followed by a fireworks display fired from the centre of the river itself.

For further information and to purchase tickets, tel: (020) 7724 1617: www.thamesrevival.com. Thames Festival information at www.thamesfestival.org.

A riverside feast in the The Mayor's Thames Festival