The Essential Guide to Events & Festivals this month

October means eight after the eighth month of the old Roman calendar
Flower of the month: Dahlia. 
Dahlia are herbaceous perennial flowering plants that grow from tuberous roots. They originated in Mexico and Central America.

tbc London Film Festival (est. 1953)             
The London Film Festival is an annual film festival with cooperation from the British Film Institute (BFI). It screens more than 300 films, documentaries and shorts from approximately 50 countries.
bfi.org.uk/lff   

tbc Herne Hill Music Festival
The Herne Hill Music Festival will feature local community, professional and internationally renowned artists against the backdrop of Brockwell Park and other well-loved landmarks of Herne Hill.

tbc Streatham Festival
The Streatham Festival (est. 2002) has grown into an acclaimed London arts festival with varied events including comedy, film, art, photography, food, music and dance 
streathamfestival.com/

@streatfest

tbc Affordable Art Fair (est. 1999)
Everything will be for sale between £100 and £6,000, with paintings, original artist-made prints, sculpture and photography all on show. Whether you are looking for artwork that is traditional or contemporary, humorous or edgy, by a famous name or an undiscovered talent, there is something for everyone 

29th End of British Summertime
British Summer Time (BST) operates until the last Sunday in October when Britain reverts back onto GMT and clocks go back one hour at 02:00am.

31st Halloween
It means. In the medieval and early modern period (1500-1800) Halloween (All Hallows Evening ) became widespread. Bonfires became especially popular in this period. they were used  to burn the Harvest chaff but over time the bonfires were seen as guiding Christian souls in purgatory or a means of warding off witchcraft and the plague. In Ireland and Scotland, on Halloween children went souling with turnip lanterns  Halloween became popular in America in the last e 18th Century with the pumpkin replaced the turnip

English Apples
Sweet apples arose originally on Kazakhstan's border with China. It is likely that they gradually spread into Europe through the Middle East and several manuscripts from ancient Greece, including Homer's Odyssey, refer to apples and describe apple orchards. There is evidence that apples grew wild in Britain in the Neolithic period but it was the Romans who first introduced varieties with sweeter and greater taste. The earliest known mention of apples in England was by King Alfred. The outstanding English apple remains the Cox Orange Pippin.