Scarlett Cannon

Once a year, the streets of Notting Hill are reclaimed through music, movement and sound systems – where resistance and celebration collide for a weekend of dancing, magnums and bedazzlement. No other UK-based event has the same level of energy, pride and commitment.

Celebrating its 60th year, flags from Jamaica to Barbados were flown high, people from Lewisham to Tottenham travelled west; everyone will have gotten their 10k steps in.

Notting Hill Carnival was born out of both resistance in response to racial tensions and celebration of Caribbean culture. It continues as an everlasting reclamation of cultural pride and representation of multicultural London.

The location is in poignant remembrance of the Windrush-generation residents who lived there and created the area’s culture, and who have now largely been driven out through gentrification.

In today’s political climate, the online world will have you feeling as though the world is hopeless and overcome with division. A weekend at Carnival will have you feeling the exact opposite. A sea of people dancing, flirting and drinking alongside one another, people from all walks of life. There, quietly, among the music, colour and newfound lovers, lies the hope that Londoners truly need.