Organisers of a summer feast of food and fun in Bury hope next month’s Big Lunch will prove the perfect recipe to unite the community.
On Sunday June 7, thousands of communities will sit down for a Big Lunch with neighbours they may not know and Halifax, the banking group committed to bringing communities closer together and helping them thrive, is proud to support The Big Lunch as part of its Helping Britain Prosper Plan.
It will be double the fun for Bury with The Big Lunch teaming up with Radcliffe Carnival for two days of festivities on June 6 and 7.
The theme will be retro to celebrate 50 years of the carnival with The Big Lunch offering old fair ground games such as hook a duck and bash the rat.
As well as the entertainment, The Big Lunch will also be raising money Children in Need and The Albert Kennedy Trust, which supports young lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans young people who are made homeless or living in a hostile environment.
And with the carnival set to draw in the crowds, organiser Hollie Hardiment is predicting another successful Big Lunch.
“It’s the 50th anniversary for the carnival so the theme is retro,” said Hollie, who is a banking consultant at Halifax in Cheetham Hill.
“There is going to be vintage fun fair games like bash the rat and hook the duck. We’re doing to have different branches hosting different events.
“Our Big lunch will be the Biggest Lunch we have ever planned, we are really embedding our local community by joining a carnival in the area of one of our branches
“With it being the 50th anniversary, we are expecting quite a lot of people, and hopefully with people associated with the carnival, it can be the biggest Big Lunch yet.
“We are also going to be raising funds for the Albert Kennedy Trust and Children in Need. We’re hoping to raise around £700.”
Over the years, millions of people have taken part in Big Lunches, a lottery funded initiative from the Eden Project, demonstrating how we’re better equipped to tackle the problems we face when we face them together.
As a proud partner of The Big Lunch, Halifax is encouraging as many people as possible from across the UK to come together as a community to have fun and get to know each other.
Anyone can request a free Big Lunch pack, which contains invitations, posters, seeds and stickers to organise a Big Lunch for their neighbours.
Bury are not alone in hosting their Big Lunch either with St Augustine’s Primary School in Swinton also set to be busy between 11.30am and 3.30pm on Sunday June 7 with a bouncy castle, mini golf and coconut shack sure to draw in the crowds.
“We really enjoyed last year’s Big Lunch, and we’re hoping to make it even bigger this year,” said Chris Quirk, who is branch manager at Halifax in Didsbury.
“This year’s theme is ‘Festival of Fun.’ We’ve got lots of things planned and even the KA challenge which will be to guess how many balloons there are inside a Ford KA.
“We are quite excited that we are hosting the event at a primary school. Hopefully it will encourage families to come down.
“We will also be fundraising for three different charities, Francis House, the Albert Kennedy Trust and Children in Need. They are all great causes so hopefully we can raise as much money as possible.”
Halifax is proud to support The Big Lunch and give extra back to communities. Halifax branches are getting involved and organising Big Lunches all around the country. To find out more please visit: www.halifaxcommunities.co.uk/thebiglunch
