Londoner’s Diary: Loy Kratong

This was the first Thai Buddhist temple to be built in Britain, and I think I’m right in saying it remains the only such temple on these shores. It was originally founded in Richmond in 1965, but was rebuilt to traditional designs in 1979 between Wimbledon Common and Wimbledon Park. The Loy Kratong festival is a particularly lovely one – usually in November – when lotus flowers, incense and candles are floated on leaf rafts across any nearby body of water. It mixes a tribute to the spirits of the water with a symbolic letting go of, well, burdens, vexations and sorrow.