Previous Big Lunches

Since 2009, on one day each summer, neighbours nationwide have held street parties, barbecues, community events and simple get-togethers to mark The Big Lunch. Here some highlights from the first three years...

Sunday 19th July 2009

The first ever Big Lunch saw the best part of a million people take part across the country. Every neighbourhood did theirs differently:

• In Walthamstow, London, they held a beach-themed street party with palm trees, sand pits and paddling pools.
• A community arts group organised a huge street party for the people of Toxteth, an inner-city area of Liverpool.
• The people of Garstang, Britain’s first Fairtrade Town, held a Big Lunch simultaneously with a cocoa farming community in Ghana, and a group in the US.
• Residents of Holyhead joined The Big Lunch on the Celtic gateway bridge.

Afterwards, three in five people told us they’d met new friends, and four in five people felt the event had had a positive impact on their community.

Watch highlights from The Big Lunch 2009

Sunday 18th July 2010

Another million people or so turned out for the second Big Lunch, and we heard of events as far afield as the Shetland Islands and Australia!

Many communities used their Big Lunch to bring about positive change:

• One lunch in Glasgow raised money for Oxfam, by holding a clothes swap on the day.
  
• In Kings Heath, Birmingham, residents organised the event to make people feel safe again after a series of arson attacks in the area.
• A Big Lunch marquee at the Middlesbrough Mela saw communities from all faiths sharing food together.
  

74% of people who took part told us they did a Big Lunch because they wanted to get to know their neighbours better. Afterwards, 94% said they did feel closer to them.

Watch highlights from The Big Lunch 2010

Sunday 5th June 2011

In the biggest year for The Big Lunch so far, around two million people joined in.

Events across the UK ranged from a beach in Scotland to a fire station in Staffordshire.

We heard about all sorts of unusual games being played, like an ‘onion and spoon race’, stilt walking and a traditional tug of war.

Celebrities made guest appearances at several lunches, including Liverpudlian singer Liz McClarnon who attended one Big Lunch as part of a competition prize. Boris Johnson and Barbara Windsor, official Street Party Ambassador for London, visited a Hackney Big Lunch, where they judged a cake competition.

Again, people told us the day really made a difference, with:

• 89% saying it had brought generations together
• 84% telling us it made them feel better about their neighbourhood
• 74% creating new friendships that they hoped to build on

Watch highlights from The Big Lunch 2011