London’s First-Ever Interfaith Wellbeing Festival: Communities Gather Together to Celebrate Diversity, 12 Months On from the 2024 Riots

On Bank Holiday Monday, 25^th August 2025, Londoners came together at Paddington Recreation Ground for the city’s first ever Interfaith Wellbeing Festival, a landmark celebration of community, resilience, and shared values. The event showcased the power of connection across faiths and beliefs, 12 months after the 2024 riots, offering a striking reminder that communities are stronger when they move forward together.

Families, young and old, came together across faiths and beliefs to reflect, connect, and celebrate what makes London special, while exploring wellbeing-focused activities with a fun, family-friendly theme in the summer sun.

The event was jointly organised by Maccabi GB and The Faith and Belief Forum, who were supported with a core co-production group consisting of NishkamSWAT, Mitzvah Day, The Feast, The Delicate Mind and Stuart Diamond Consulting, with dozens more charities and local organisations coming to take part on the event day itself, delivering activities and offering tasters of what they offer at a dedicated charity zone.

At the dedicated Charity Zone, visitors engaged with community groups, experiencing activities and sampling the services they offer. The event was also attended by Chief Imam Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi and Georgina Gould MP for Queen’s Park and Maida Vale.

Imam Razawi said, “This diversity is something I believe should be celebrated and this is a bridge to bring people together. You stand at a unique position in the world because when it works, it works like this.”

A focal point of the day was the 1km Interfaith Community Walk, bringing together families, faith leaders, and local residents in a symbolic act of solidarity. Walking side by side through Paddington Recreation Ground, participants demonstrated their commitment to building bridges across divides and reaffirmed that London’s communities are stronger when they move forward together.

The festival offered Londoners the chance to experience wellbeing in all its forms. Activities included a football masterclass with QPR FC professionals, family sports sessions led by Salaam Peace volunteers, and a fun zone with henna, face painting, cap designing, and glitter art.

For those seeking calm, expert-led reflective spaces offered guided meditation and other wellbeing workshops, alongside a prayer tent for multi-faith reflection.

What stood out most for many attendees was the opportunity to connect with people from different backgrounds — through conversations, shared experiences, and live performances. The air was alive with music and dance, from South American rhythms to South Asian melodies.

Community partners ranged from large charities to local volunteer-led groups. The Greater London Authority encouraged civic participation and promoted voting, particularly among young people following the recent lowering of the voting age.

Stand Up! Education Against Discrimination, a joint project of Maccabi GB and CST, showcased their work empowering young people to recognise and challenge antisemitism and anti-Muslim hate. NishkamSWAT, another co-production partner, ran a stall highlighting Sikh-led social action initiatives that serve people of all faiths and none.

A range of faith communities were also present, including London’s Zoroastrians, MTO Zendeh Delan, Jhive — creators of the London-wide Multifaith Needs Charter — and The Feast, which specialises in bringing young people together across divides, among many more.

David Dangoor CBE DL, a tireless supporter of interfaith in London and the headline sponsor of the Interfaith Wellbeing Festival itself, said, "At this event we saw the richness of London's diversity and how we can all enjoy a harmonious relationship that builds on our core values."

Community partners ranged from large charities to local hero led volunteer groups. Partners of the

Greater London Authority were present to promote civic participation and voting – especially for young people with the new lowered voting age.

Michael Ziff, acting Chair of Trustees at the Faith & Belief Forum and President of Maccabi GB, said,

“As the UK’s biggest interfaith charity, we speak to everyone, and we know there’s a desire across communities to come together. So, 12 months ago we decided that we would be that convenor, we would bring people and communities together across the capital and support them to co-produce an event for Londoners, by Londoners that both met their needs and showed the world that we are united in the face of division.

This ended up creating the first ever Interfaith Wellbeing Festival and we are delighted that so many diverse communities participated, shared their wellbeing practices and connected with each other. It was well attended, and we look forward to working with many more communities next year to grow the Festival and its reach.”

Performances throughout the day brought energy and delight, from classic songs to original works, including Alex Etchart’s No Human is Illegal. Families enjoyed the thunderous beats of Shumei Taiko Japanese drummers, soaring gospel voices, and the harmonies of the London Jewish Male Choir, taking attendees on a cultural journey spanning the globe.

The festival took place against a backdrop of deep social polarisation. Just 12 months after the 2024 riots — some of the worst public disorder in recent memory — communities coming together in this way was not only brave and powerful but also a striking contrast to the division still seen today.

The co-produced festival stands as a testament to what is possible when people of all faiths, races, and beliefs unite. It highlights shared human values and the collective will of the vast majority to foster connection in the face of division.

At a time when protests and debates around immigration continue to create tension, the Interfaith Wellbeing Festival reaffirmed the importance of resilience and inclusivity. By creating safe, courageous, and empowering spaces, it demonstrated how communities can and do support one another across every aspect of life — from mental health and employability to creativity, education, and sport.

Carrie Alderton, Interim CEO of the Faith and Belief Forum, noted, " Being together, to explore and understand individual and community wellbeing, is vital. There's so much we can learn from the wisdom and practices of others to inform our own wellbeing and lives.

It is also important because, we are living in a context where technology and many political and media narratives have fed division. When so many communities choose to enter a space that is diverse in thought, opinion and culture it creates an alternative narrative; it demonstrates another way to live, a better way where we co-exist with love and respect. The Interfaith Wellbeing Festival embodied this resilience: togetherness in the face of division. And, above all, it was a shining light celebrating the diversity of London.”

The day closed with Bushra Nasir CBE, herself a pioneer in education as the first Muslim female headteacher of a secondary school in the UK, who reflected on London’s unique role as a global leader in demonstrating how we can coexist and collaborate for our collective wellbeing as individuals, communities and wider society.

“This afternoon has been a great opportunity to put our wellbeing at the centre of our lives. It was a wonderful, joyous celebration of our wonderful city of London. I had the privilege of chatting with so many people with different ages, different experiences, different faiths, different backgrounds – and there is more that brings us together than separates. It has been an afternoon of bonding and holding hands across faith on the shared theme and value of wellbeing.”