Know Your Place heritage festival

About the festival

Through a carefully curated programme of events, exhibitions, talks, walks, tours, and workshops, the Know Your Place heritage festival has celebrated and engaged residents and visitors with the borough's rich local history for over a decade. 

Returning in September 2024, Know Your Place will once again showcase the people and places that have shaped the vibrant cultural borough you can see today.  

Know Your Place is made possible due to the dedication and support of a wide range of local voluntary organisations, societies, and enthusiasts who generously share their passion and knowledge as well as their time. 

Aims

The festival aims to:

• Provide a high-quality events offer that sparks curiosity and ideally, further engagement with the Borough’s rich history
• Increase awareness and usage of Richmond’s Local Studies Library and Archive services
• Support the wellbeing of those who live, work, or visit Richmond upon Thames by fostering a sense of place
• Celebrate our shared local history, inspiring pride in the Borough’s people and places in the past, present, and future
• Maintain and develop effective partnerships with local heritage organisations which help to make Richmond upon Thames a vibrant community of cultural activity

Audience testimonials 

“I’ve lived in Hampton almost 40 years and learned quite a lot in tonight’s talk, thank you!” - Know Your Place, 2023

“A very enjoyable evening – learned a lot. So lucky to live in such a wonderfully rich in history borough.” - Know Your Place, 2023

Autumn festival 2024 

The Know Your Place heritage festival returns this September, running to early October with a select number of events showcasing the history of Richmond upon Thames.

Island Movements: Ballet like you've never seen before

Live in the library, a unique opportunity to see Black British ballet’s epic new performance exploring the impact of Windrush. Through a pulsating mix of reggae, calypso, and contemporary Black British music we follow the story of a young Caribbean soldier in WW2 Britain and their experience of life in the UK. This 60-minute show includes a Q&A with the dancers and creators.

This event is in collaboration with the Richmond Reads Season.

Event details:

• Date: Saturday 5 October 2024
• Time: 5.30 to 6.45pm
• Location: Old Town Hall, Whittaker Avenue, TW9 1TP 
• Price: £4.50 and £1 concessions

Book tickets for Island Movements

Local history society events

Richmond upon Thames is lucky to have several local history societies that run local history talks and events throughout the year.

See their websites for more details:

• Barnes and Mortlake History Society - Covering Barnes, Mortlake and East Sheen
• Richmond Local History Society - Covering Richmond, Kew, Petersham and Ham
• Borough of Twickenham Local History Society - Covering Twickenham, Whitton, Teddington and the Hamptons

Spring festival 2025

Over the years the festival has highlighted hundreds of events and activities from partnerships with local societies and individuals as well as prestigious organisations such as The National Archives and The Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew.  

We are excited to announce that the Know Your Place Heritage Festival will be moving to the spring from next year. This change will provide us with more opportunities to diversify our programme of events and build on our already established partnerships. Programming the festival in the spring will also allow us to make the most of the more favourable weather so we can incorporate outdoor activities and widen participation.  

The autumn and initial spring festivals will be scaled down programmes as we transition to the new schedule, but there’s still plenty to enjoy for curious minds.

Delve into Richmond’s past today

You don’t have to wait for the festival to learn about the history of your area. Visit the Local Studies Library and Archive where our friendly staff can show you how to use our collection of books and unique archival documents to discover what Richmond upon Thames was like in the past. You might be surprised by what you find!

Keep up to date

We will update this page as plans progress or you can sign up to our newsletter for updates.