Two community festivals on Sunday 25 October: All Souls' Day in St Thomas, free from 12pm to 5pm, then Bangla Cultural Night at Exeter Phoenix, £8.
Two community festivals take place in Exeter on Sunday 25 October, one after the other. All Souls’ Day Exeter runs in St Thomas in the afternoon and is free. Bangla Cultural Night follows in the evening at Exeter Phoenix, with tickets at £8.
Both have been helped by Exeter City Council grants and by Inclusive Exeter, a local community organisation. The council announced both on 15 October.
The quick answer
| All Souls’ Day Exeter | Bangla Cultural Night | |
|---|---|---|
| Where | Church of St Thomas the Apostle and Love Food CIC, Cowick Street | Exeter Phoenix auditorium, Gandy Street |
| When | 12pm to 5pm | Doors 5pm, programme from 6.30pm, ends 10pm |
| Price | Free | £8, plus a £1.50 booking charge |
| Booking | Not needed | Exeter Phoenix |
All Souls’ Day Exeter, St Thomas
All Souls’ Day Exeter is a festival of remembrance, grief and celebration, open to anyone. It draws on the Polish Zaduszki and the Mexican Día de los Muertos (All Souls’ Day Exeter).
People living in St Thomas started it in 2023. It has been free every year. This year it runs from 12pm to 5pm at the Church of St Thomas the Apostle and at Love Food CIC on Cowick Street.
The organisers say you can:
- take part in creative workshops
- make or bring a meaningful object for the communal altars
- share stories about people you have lost, and about your own culture and traditions
- watch music and performance pieces
- eat with everyone else
The festival is part of Inclusive Exeter’s Better Connections project. It was given £350 from the council’s ward grants towards the event (Exeter City Council). This year’s sponsor is Heart and Soul Funerals of Buckfastleigh and Totnes (All Souls’ Day Exeter).
Councillor Liz Pole, the council’s lead for communities, said the event “promises a welcoming space for people from different backgrounds in Exeter to share stories, to honour those they have lost, to learn from one another, to connect and to create.”
Bangla Cultural Night, Exeter Phoenix
Bangla Cultural Night celebrates the heritage of Bengal. It is organised by BAAUL, an informal women’s community group, with support from Inclusive Exeter (Exeter City Council).
Exeter Phoenix’s listing says the evening includes:
- live music and dance from artists from Bangladesh, India and Exeter
- exhibitions of traditional Bengali clothing, crafts and artefacts
- Bengali food
- stalls from Exeter’s Afghan, Filipino, Nigerian and Kerala communities
Doors open at 5pm and the programme starts at 6.30pm. The event finishes at 10pm. Tickets are £8, and the Phoenix adds a £1.50 ticketing charge (Exeter Phoenix). The listing says organisers expect about 200 people.
The festival poster lists Sheikh Naz as host, singers Abanti Sithi and Amith Dey, and Tanim as arranger.
Inclusive Exeter received £1,000 for the event from the council’s City Grant programme, which has a total budget of £60,000 for community groups. The council and the organisers stress you do not need to be Bengali, or know anything about Bengali culture, to go.
What it means for you
- All Souls’ Day is free and needs no ticket. Turn up any time between 12pm and 5pm. If you want to add something to an altar, bring it with you.
- Bangla Cultural Night needs a ticket, booked through Exeter Phoenix. The total is £9.50 a person with the booking charge.
- You can do both. All Souls’ Day ends at 5pm, when the Phoenix opens its doors. Cowick Street is across the Exe from the city centre. Gandy Street is off the High Street, a walk over Exe Bridges and up Fore Street.
- Want to help next year? All Souls’ Day Exeter takes offers of volunteering, workshops and performances through the form on its website.
Driving in? See parking in Exeter. For everything else on this month, see what’s on in Exeter.
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