Festival of Thetford & Punjab 2026

Various venues across Thetford

The Festival of Thetford & Punjab is a cross-cultural celebration inspired by the people of Thetford and the Duleep Singh family, the last Royal Family of the Punjab who lived in nearby Elveden.

For this year’s Festival, we enjoyed a weekend of exciting events, including the Thetford Mela which took place at Thetford Grammar School, featuring performances from Punjabi Megastars, Indian dancers, and Bhangra legends. This year’s line up included Sunrise Presenters Raj Ghai and Paul Shah, opening by Town Crier Mike Wabe, the legendary Shin DCS, Bhangra King Kulwant Bhamrah (Apna Sangeet), Punjabi Megastar Nirmal Sidhu featuring the Prince of Bhangra Nav Sidhu, Jugnu Bhangra Group, Kent Saheli Group performing Teeyan Gidha, Circus Raj, Varinder Mansa and The Rajashthan Brass Band. There will also be Desi Art Workshops in the Indian Marquee, Turban Tying by Harpreet Singh, a display by the Sikh Motorcycle Club UK, food and henna.

Throughout the weekend there were fun activities and new displays at Ancient House Museum, who opened for free for festival goers. On Friday they launched the festival weekend with speeches and a play by young people in their History Club.

We delved further into the cross-cultural history of the town with a series of talks on the Saturday. At Elveden Village Hall we learned about the last Royal Family of the Punjab with Peter Bance Duleep Singh biographer and writer. At Thetford Library, Polly Putnam from Historic Royal Palaces talked about the new exhibition about Princess Sophia and the great women who shaped her at Kensington Palace. We also heard soldiers’ stories about the Anglo-Sikh wars from Nigel Amies and the Bengal Horse Artillery with Mark Taylor. All talks were beautifully compered by Rav Singh from A little History of the Sikhs.

We teamed up with Arts La’Olam to create a series of wonderful workshops to warm people up to the festival, The Desi Arts Workshops with music, dance and textile art for all to enjoy. Funded by Arts Council England, workshops took place from 25 June through to 19 July, at Ancient House Museum, the Charles Burrell Centre, and with students at Thetford schools. Activities and performances also took place at the Thetford Mela in an Indian tent at the festival finale.

Artist Sally Chinea was also commissioned for a project to celebrate the Festival of Thetford & Punjab, led by Arts La’Olam in partnership with Essex Cultural Diversity Project and Ancient House Museum. United Threads of Thetford and Punjab invited the community of Thetford to a series of Batik workshops to design and create flags and bunting for the festival Mela. These flags will include historical drawn artefacts, local people and places of interest, as well as the history, culture and music of the Punjab linked through the Duleep Singh story.

Gez and Rosie Chetal hosted their Annual Curry Night at the Thomas Paine Hotel, where the people of Thetford dressed to impress and enjoyed a lavish Indian meal with authentic Punjabi dishes.

Thank you to all our partners, funders and supporters, who help make the festival happen!