How The Big Lunch satisfied Scotland's appetite for community spirit

Here are three wonderful celebrations that took place in Scotland earlier this month:

• Braeside Terrace, Aberdeen 

Around 93 miles north of Edinburgh on Scotland’s east coast you’ll find the granite city of Aberdeen. Residents of Braeside Terrace, a residential street southwest of the city centre (with support from Braeside and Mannonfield Community Council), participated in this year’s Big Lunch in an attempt to shake off the negativity of lockdown and inject good vibes back into their neighbourhood! 

With residents pulling together through a local WhatsApp group, helping maintain a sense of community and organise the event, Braeside Terrace is a shining example of what the Big Lunch represents - community, relationships and fuelling a sense of togetherness even in the most challenging of times. It acted as a celebration of the relationships formed during the challenges of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.  

Acting as a pilot with a view to encouraging more streets in the catchment area to join next year, local residents and neighbours came together in harmony, setting up tables in their gardens to host family and friends, respecting social distancing.  The fun did not stop there, with an ‘adventure trail’ on street pavements organised for children, a magician and a local mobile coffee company selling coffees and soft drinks!  

Speaking of her involvement and the success of the event, local resident Val Milne says “Our Big Lunch story is one of a good news outcome from Covid restrictions. Almost everyone in the street joined and it’s a big street so quite an achievement!  The street has continued to keep in touch - whether to borrow garden equipment, offer help or ask for it.”  

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• Saltcoats 

Spending increased time at home and being more present in our communities has brought a heartening wave of community action, seeing neighbours talking, supporting and looking out for one another. The Big Lunch is about celebrating community connections and getting to know one another better. 

One group of residents in the Saltcoats area wanted to celebrate these connections by hosting a socially distanced Big Lunch, saying ‘Cheers!’ to the support and kindness. Neighbours who had lived on the street for 20+ years had the opportunity to introduce themselves and share experiences with the newer neighbours.

A true sense of where old meets new! The street was even fortunate enough to have a green patch, forming the perfect stage for local resident Graham to share songs accompanied by his daughter on the drum. Neighbour Tony, who plays bass guitar, also  joined in as the trio entertained the street.  

Saltcoats’ Iceland store (supporting this year’s Lunch), were generous in supporting this community-first event. Everyone agreed that connecting over a cuppa was a great thing to do and whatever the new normal looks like, residents in Saltcoats will be hosting another one next year!  

Ish, new to Saltcoats having only moved there at the end of 2020 said “I faced the problem of building new friendships in my community during lockdown, which was very difficult.” After spotting a patch of land behind her property, she decided it would make the perfect Big Lunch spot!  

Community spirit came into full force, with local residents hacking away at the land over several months, giving it a complete facelift. Local council teams also helped clear the area and collected larger, unwanted items and bags of waste.  

From gazebos and bunting popping up around the streets to neighbourhood karaoke and children planting sunflower seeds, the sense of community was undeniable!  

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• Woodcraft Folk Groups, Falkirk 

With a population of just over 30,000, Falkirk may be a town small by size, but that certainly does not stop the wonderful actions of Woodcraft Folk Group, who meet weekly (socially distanced of course!) as a group to play games, sing, take part in drama, discussions, projects and crafts, and perhaps most importantly, to learn about local and global issues in a fun, entertaining way. 

Established in 2010, now a registered charity with franchises across the UK, the Falkirk group is one of many who this year thought the time was perfect to organise their own Big Lunch!  

Danielle Lisney, one of the event organisers talks about how this event is particularly important this year with covid restrictions impacting on the social aspect of day-to-day community life for residents; “Our Big Lunch will be for all the local members (adults as well as the children) to get together. We would usually try to have a district event every term, but obviously that hasn't happened for the past year. Some of the groups are quite new so a lot of us have only ever seen each other on zoom! We just felt like this was a really nice way for everyone to spend some time together - food is always popular at our groups!” 

Speaking of the events’ success, it definitely seems like a Big Lunch will become an annual tradition for the charity - “It was a lovely afternoon. It's been so long since we've been able to do something like that. It really strengthens the group when we have opportunities for the adult volunteers to just hang out together rather than being focused on running the group!” said Danielle.  

For more information, see www.edenprojectcommunities.com