The Big Lunch Resourceful Week

Have you heard of The Big Lunch?

“The Big Lunch is a very simple idea from the Eden Project.
A Big Lunch can be anything from a few neighbours getting together in the garden or on the street, to a full blown street party with food, music and decoration that quite literally stops the traffic. The aim is to get as many people as possible across the whole of the UK to have lunch with their neighbours annually on the first Sunday in June in a simple act of community, friendship and fun.
Since starting in 2009, thousands of Big Lunches have taken place in all types of community across the UK, and last year 3.65 million people took to their streets, gardens and community spaces for the fifth annual Big Lunch.”
(Snaffled from The Big Lunch website, as they explain it much better than I could!)

So why am I telling you this?
Well, because it’s a pretty fab thing to do, a great way to build community in your area, meet your neighbours, and have a bit of a knees up.
AND this year, the lovely people at the Eden Project, and at Start UK have come up with the fabulous idea of a whole ‘Resourceful Big Lunch Week’, to promote sustainability and resourcefulness, and to launch the 2014 event.

The whole resourceful week is kicking off with a wonderful FREE event, called ‘No Man is an Island’ at The Eden Project in Cornwall, hosted by Start, and starring a panel of special guests.
And this is where I come in…!
I’m a Special Guest 🙂
I will be joined by:

• Joey Tabone from Start UK
• Steve Lamb from River Cottage
• Jenny Coles from Plymouth Energy Community
• Alexandra Womack from Chipping Sodbury Big Lunch

The theme for the event is inspired by the quote “No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main”, from John Donne’s 1621 poem.
As a panel we will be discussing how this applies in the our modern, busy world, and if we are indeed more resourceful as part of a community or as individuals.

The event is on Sunday 27th April, at the Eden Project from 11.30am-1pm.
Did I mention it’s FREE, you get coffee and pastries, AND you get free entry into the amazing Eden Project afterwards-why wouldn’t you want to come?!
You can book your ticket here or e-mail Trudi.Holden@thebiglunch.com for more information.

Never fear, if you can’t come along, you can still get involved in the event and the week, by following on Twitter. Each day from the 28th April-2nd May, there will be daily Q&A sessions with the panellists on Twitter, on a different aspect of Resourcefulness, with respect to organising your very own Big Lunch.
My ‘specialist subject’ is entertainment and decoration, and my day for the Twitter chat is Thursday 1st May.
It would be lovely to see some of you-either in person at the Eden Project, or virtually on Twitter-you can tweet @thebiglunch or @Start_UK (or even little old me @makeandmendyear) with your top resourceful ideas-use the hashtag #BLresourcefulWk
Also tune into the blog next week, for a whole host of posts on Resourceful Big Lunching!

The aim of the week is to persuade as many people as possible to join in with this year’s Big Lunch on 1st June 2014, and to show that it can be done pretty easily and cheaply, especially if you are able to recruit some help from your neighbours, and pool your resources!
If you like the sound of it, and want to find out more, check out The Big Lunch website-it is in itself, a fantastic resource. There are ideas for Food, Decoration, Music etc etc, and you can find all the information you might need.
You can also order a free Big Lunch pack here containing invites and posters, seeds and stickers, and an information pack.