DANNY ROBINS' EVENTS GUIDE- JULY 1ST

Paddle Round The Pier - Sat 3rd and Sun 4th July

With the sort of weather we're getting, you want to be outdoors this weekend and, if you live in the South-East, this is a good chance to do it. Paddle Round the Pier is an annual event in Brighton that has now grown to be Europe's biggest free beach festival.

There's all sorts of different races to watch or take part in - on kayaks, surfboards, stand up paddle boarding, in boats and on land on skateboards, bikes and skates. There's parkour displays, VW Beach buggy displays, and, my favourite when I was a kid a life boat and rescue helicopter display.

For the less active, you can take part in a 'pimp my lilo' contest or just chill out and watch bands and ogle the hunk in trunks/bikini contests.

Everybody should join in the paddle round the pier that gives the event its name. It kicks off at 2pm on Sunday and will see a flotilla of every imaginable type of flotation device - surfboards, kayaks, lilos and anything else that is close to hand - being used by an army of everyone from grown ups to kids to paddle around the West Pier.

And on Saturday night, the party continues into the early hours at the nearby Brunswick Pub.

Banbury Hobby Horse Festival - Fri July 2nd to Sun July 4th

We probably all know the nursery rhyme:

"Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,

To see a fine lady upon a white horse;

Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,

And she shall have music wherever she goes"

A 'cock-horse' is an old fashioned term for hobby horses: the pretend wooden horses that children would ride that also crop up in a lot of British folk festivals.

This weekend the setting of this nursery rhyme, Banbury in Oxfordshire, is going to be full of hobby horses and hobby-other animals for this annual festival. People bring their quite amazing creations from all over the place to take part on processions of hobby horses through the streets. Check out the photos on the website and you'll see incredible dragons, beasts and of course a lots of steeds - all hung around their creators shoulders so it looks like they are sitting on the 'horse'.

And as for the bells on fingers and toes - that'll be the hordes of morris dancers who turn up in Banbury over the weekend to accompany the horses, along with plenty of folk musicians.

Grab a pint of 'hooky' in the local pub and enjoy the fun and, if you fancy starting a new hobby, make a hobby horse and take it down.

Alma Street Fair - Sun 4th July

Street parties; a great British tradition. You've got to love them, whether they're big and loud like the St Paul's Carnival in Bristol on Saturday 3rd July, packed with people, sound systems, and food stalls or small like this one.

I'm mentioning it because it's my local street party in Kentish Town in North London and it's always loads of fun. Kentish Town is a bit of a hot bed of musical and artistic talent. Zane Lowe lives nearby and Mr Hudson happens to live round the corner so he's opening it (you know like the Queen does at fetes) and there's loads of good bands, including Dansette Junior who are recently signed to a major and tipped for great things. Looks like it's going to be a kind of mini festival this year.

There's also the traditional cake stalls and bric a brac, tombola, etc, drumming workshops and exhibitions by local artists. Definitely worth popping down if you're North London-based, for a nice slice of English traditional street party with a cool indie-cred spin. Alma Street is in the NW5 postcode zone, close to both Camden town and Kentish Town tubes.

And if you don't live anywhere near that - I want to know about street parties in your area - there must be things going on up and down the UK. Tweet or email us and tell us about any impromptu festivals on your street and, if there isn't one, I think you should organise one. Street parties rock.

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