People across Shropshire are busy with final preparations for The Big Lunch on Sunday 7 June, which helps people get to know their neighbours better and create closer communities.
The Big Lunch is the UK’s annual get-together for neighbours, an idea from the Eden Project made possible by the Big Lottery Fund and supported by Halifax and Asda. It is the perfect recipe for having fun with neighbours, feeding community spirit and helping to build stronger neighbourhoods.
Claire Bickford and her neighbour from Shrewsbury began holding The Big Lunch because they were new to their crescent and wanted to get to know their neighbours by starting a community group. Their community group, the Coton Crescent Residents Association (CCRA), was kick-started by The Big Lunch and has become instrumental in local residents’ ability to organise themselves and get behind new projects and social events. This year, Claire will be holding her sixth Big Lunch at the local pub at the end of her road on Sunday 7 June.
Claire says: “The Big Lunch has really been the pinnacle for our Residents Association. As a result of the CCRA we have, in conjunction with our local council, developed a piece of waste land into allotment space and planted an ‘edible woodland’ with support from the Woodland Trust. The woodland also includes a memorial bench in memory of one of our much-loved neighbours.”
“Residents now know each other and we have an email address book which includes nearly all houses on our crescent. So, if you need a babysitter, cup of sugar or have an unused piece of furniture to give away, you can simply ask via your iPad! There’s a real sense of sharing resources in the community now and by pulling together, we’ve been able to put a pedestrian crossing in place and reduce our local waste by signing up to the Rubbish Diet when our council stopped providing a cardboard collection.”
“In addition to our summer Big Lunch event, we now hold another at Christmas and also quarterly meetings in the pub so that new residents can come along and meet their neighbours throughout the year.”
Debi Teague from Telford is organising a Big Lunch at the retirement living scheme where she works for residents and their friends and families as well as hosting her own picnic-style Big Lunch in Broadway for her neighbours on Sunday 7 June.
Sir Tim Smit KBE, Co-Founder, the Eden Project and The Big Lunch, comments: “The Big Lunch helps people get to know the whole street by taking a few hours out of their day on Sunday 7 June to share a meal, conversation and laughter. This kind of event really helps to build personal relationships and feed community spirit.”
Peter Ainsworth, Chair, Big Lottery Fund, adds: “The Big Lunch is becoming a regular feature in our summer calendar and is helping keep communities together throughout the year. That’s why we’re proud to be supporting it again in 2015.”
Recent research by The Big Lunch revealed that more than two thirds (68%) of adults in the UK say they feel lonely either often, always or sometimes. This is most acute among 18 to 34-year-olds, with 83% of this age group experiencing loneliness.
It is never too late to host a Big Lunch. Anyone who would like to host one on Sunday 7 June 2015 (or another date if they prefer) can request a free planning pack from www.thebiglunch.com or by calling 0845 850 8181.