The ongoing, blistering heatwave presents a great chance to enjoy the neighbourhood as it is transformed in all kinds of deliciously unexpected ways for the summertime.

Serving up seven weeks of samba-style sport and socialising, Bola Beach Tennis is ready to bring one of the world’s fastest-growing games to Hackney Wick, with fast-paced matches on the sand suitable for all levels, a lively music soundtrack and a welcome beach shack for essential snacks and drinks, too.

There’s a free open day this Fri 27th Jun to get things off to a flying start, and then the courts are open every Thurs-Sun until 10th Aug. You can book coaching sessions and also solo social matchplay games as a way to meet new people on the local beach.

Also this week, phenomenal travelling global public art project, The Herds, will see life-sized puppet animals thunder through the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park on their 20,000km journey all summer, which started off in the Congo Basin and will end up in the Arctic Circle.

You can encounter them on Sun 29th Jun as they move through Westfield and into the Park, where some specially commissioned choreography will see dancers from Sadler’s Wells East try and stop then in every way they can.

The project bring together the worlds of art and science in an urgent call for climate action, for a piece that should be even more breathtaking than the Handspring Puppet Company’s previous work - the 12ft high Syrian refugee child Little Amal, who began walking across continents in 2021.

New on thisisthewick.com this week

🪮 Human hair, a symbol of beauty, vitality, and identity, is reimagined as a suffocating, consuming force that devours its host in atmospheric sculptural installation Vestiges, which comes to Fish Island’s Indra Gallery from 3rd-6th Jul. Artist and hair stylist, Kirsten Bassett, was compelled to find a different approach to working with hair, which became a cathartic exploration of a versatile medium.

Before that, Indra Gallery has a day of sacred connection at a day of black health, wellbeing and self care (plus free massage and goodie bags), Original Goddess Earth Energy, this Sun 29th Jun.

🎭 Make sure to catch The East London Shakespeare Festival bring it’s summer production of As You Like It to Riverside East this Sun 29th Jun, with a pre-show garland-making workshop available for families, too.

🖼️ Felstead Art’s new exhibition Wicked Changes V, is the latest in their ongoing series exploring how artists respond to current urban and social challenges, with a particular focus on Hackney Wick. At The Trampery Fish Island Village until 2nd Aug.

📚 The Library of Things We Forgot to Remember is an archive of materials including vinyl, posters, paintings and more, drawn from private African collections. Artist Kudzanai Chiurai invites a different librarian to interrogate the archive for each show, the latest being shaped for the UCL Urban Room by guest librarian Dr Kara Blackmore. Runs to 16th Aug.

🤘🏼Rock royalty Iron Maiden are playing an eagerly-anticipated spectacular at the London Stadium this Sat 28th Jun to celebrate 50(!) bloody years of touring and nine massive studio albums - and there are a few standing tickets left, if you’re quick.

🍹 This week’s 100 on the roof giveaway at The Lord Napier sees 100 complimentary Regal Rogue cocktails for the first to arrive from 5pm tonight, Wed 25th Jun, up on the pub’s well-appointed rooftop terrace for a summertime sundowner or two.

🍖 Over at the Aperidisco pop-up in the garden at Hackney Bridge, there are a few tickets left for tonight’s Supper Club with chef Robin Gill, (sharing platters laden with smoked beef cheek, Iberico pork shoulder, green choritzo and veggie options too, plus two spritz each), or learn the basics of DJing and Aperol spritz-making at a double masterclass this Fri 27th Jun.

☀️ This Sat 28th Jun and every Saturday for the rest of the summer, renowned party-starters Sintillate are taking over the rooftop of Gordon Ramsey’s Bread Street Kitchen for hot afternoons including DJs, live music performances and plenty of top food and drinks on hand, too.

🤠 This year we may well be more likely to be celebrating our independence from them, but either way, American Independence Day, the 4th July is always a good excuse for a party, so The Leyton Star is throwing a big bash with £5 pints and Johnny Cash and June Carter tribute act CASH, plus Moody’s Dip Sandwiches on hand for the food.

🎚️ The consistently lush Anjunabeats label are bringing a selection of their artists to No90’s Live and Hideout rooms this Sat 28th Jun, with Alex Sonata & TheRio, Darren Tate and Leena Punks among the suitably-epic line-up.

🎧 There’s an open call to aspiring women and gender-minority DJs as Colour Factory are teaming up with NOT BAD FOR A GIRL, the collective doing incredible work to champion the next wave of artists. Together, they’ll host a special event on Thurs 17th Jul, where all those picked get the chance to play a 30-min set in the Garden.

🎤 Join a one-day songwriting camp with The Inscape Studios at Grow this Fri 27th, Sat 28th or Sun 29th Jun to gain studio experience, collaborate with other local artists and work on that song you’ve wanted to get finished and demoed. The Wick readers can get an exclusive 10% discount on any or all of the days using the code 'CREATIVEWICK' at the Eventbrite link checkout.

📌 Help to shape the future of the area at the our ideas community event being held next Wed 2nd Jul at Stratford Library (and online). It’s a chance to decide funding priorities, pitch your own ideas, engage in discussions on key potential projects and meet the experts who can help make it all happen.

📊 Hackney Wick and Fish Island Creative Enterprise Zone (CEZ) is looking to review and strengthen its objectives to match the changing needs of local creative and other businesses. Have your say in under a minute by responding to this short four-question survey to help shape proposals for supporting the local creative community for the next three years and beyond.

👩🏼‍🦽‍➡️ Aksana Berdnikova, Master's student in Disability Design and Innovation at UCL, is looking to find out whether East London’s creative programmes and communities are truly inclusive for disabled creatives. Fill in her questionnaire here to offer your views and experiences.

🥻 Applications are open for the second cohort of The Fashion Residency at Studio Smithfield. The Mayor of London, Projekt, Paul Smith’s Foundation and British GQ are behind the scheme to offer six successful creatives access to a free studio space for 18 months and over 60 hours of personal and business skills mentoring. Apply by 20th Jul.

🎓 The Inspiring Success Scholarship at Loughborough University London covers 100% of tuition fees on a masters programme, including career guidance and support, to unemployed or under-employed graduates from East London at their London campus at Here East. Residents of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets, or Waltham Forest who are willing to actively contribute to the local community are invited to apply for the programme by 31st July.

🌊 Over 3,400 homes in Hackney are at risk from surface water flooding, also known as flash flooding. If you are concerned about this and want to know how to better prepare, respond and recover, visit the new Hackney flood website. The Environment Agency has also put together these resources especially to help locals be better prepared for flooding in this area, following similar incidents in recent years.

🦍 The forthcoming immersive show and exhibition celebrating the history of virtual band Gorillaz, House of Kong, at The Copper Box is looking for actors, stewards and guides to work with customers during the event. Apply by Mon 30th Jun.

📢 The V&A East in the QEOP and Young V&A in Bethnal Green are looking for an experienced Communications Manager to work on campaigns including The Music Is Black: A British Story, the first exhibition to open the forthcoming museum at East Bank. Apply by 30th Jun.

📍 HTA Design is looking for a Bid Manager to join their collaborative team, with studios in Hackney Wick, Manchester, Bristol, and Edinburgh, to help them win new work ranging from social housing, regeneration, and mixed-use town centres, to interiors, parks, and historic landscapes. Apply by 27th Jun