The Big Lunch

We’re just starting to plan our second annual street barbeque. We were inspired last year by the Big Lunch initiative, the brain child of the Eden Project. They reckon over a million people were involved in some sort of community meal last year, which is great news for a society which seems to be suffering from an increasing disintegration of local communities.

Last year’s barbeque had a profound impact on our street. About 35 people showed up (probably two thirds of the street), and with one or two exceptions, no one seemed to know anyone else! But despite this there was a brilliant atmosphere, and we ate, drank, and laughed for the whole afternoon (despite the rain).

The event really seemed to lift the atmosphere in the street, and now most people at least recognise the people they live near, and often stop and chat in the street. Me and Hannah made good ongoing friendship with 5 people, and have had a number of opportunities to talk about and demonstrate our faith.

So we’re really looking forward to this year’s party, especially as a number of new individuals and families have recently moved in (some of them very ‘challenging’).

If you’ve never done anything like this before, I strongly urge you to get involved. It’s a really easy and low pressure way to get to know better the people you live near. All we did was knock on doors inviting people to come along and bring drinks and food to share. Then we hired a big gas barbeque and got some public liability insurance (apparently people have sued for various injuries!). The only slight complicating factor can be where to hold it. If you’ve got front gardens then use them. But if not, you can either get permission from your local council to close the street, or if you have a wide pavement like we do, then use that, but put up signs telling cars to drive dead slow.

The official day of the Big Lunch is Sunday July 18th, so you’ve still got a few weeks to get involved!