Queens Road Big Lunch
A community only exists when there is community spirit, otherwise it is simply a shared living space. I'm sure we are all guilty of living our lives so busily that we don't really know who our neighbours are, aside from the occasional polite nod in the street as we scurry into our homes, or as we head off to work.
Fortunately Banbury has several very community spirited folk and this is embodied best by a core group who live in Queens Road, near the park. Every year they hold a Big Lunch, whereby the street is cleared of cars, and replaced with tables, chairs, bouncy castles, sandpits, paddling pools. Almost everyone chips in; some provide music, others food or drink, and there is always a theme, this year it was a Brazilian Festival.
The instigator of this fun and games is Tim TD who has branched out the community spirit concept with his Visit Banbury project, which aims to bring positivity and community based pleasures to the whole of Banbury, and not just the road in which he lives.
My wife and I always get an invite despite not being residents, because we have come to know so many of the lovely, friendly folk who do reside there. Speaking to one chap earlier today as we sat on the wall at the front of his property in the mid-afternoon sun, he said that before the Big Lunches, the street was like any other. People would come and go, nod and smile to each other, but there was little other interaction. But after the first Big Lunch, the community bonded, and now, he explained, that bond continues throughout the whole year. They aren't just neighbours, people who happen to live next door for whatever reason, these are friends, who will help each other, sharing lives at a much deeper, more personal level with each other.
Not only does it benefit the street, the spirit of community extends to charitable concerns. Every year a local charity is picked to benefit from the event. A pre-big lunch pub quiz is held in the Pinto Lounge, partly to raise enough to put on the party, but also to raise funds for a good cause. This charitable outlook continues on the day itself; this year the beneficiary was BYHP, who had a stall selling raffle tickets and accepting further donations.
This way of life I think should be an aspiration for us all. It is so easy to isolate oneself at home. Within our own four walls we feel safe and secure, and with all the technology we commonly fill them with, it is easy to retreat from the real world and experience it all through a screen. How refreshing that a local street of like-minded folk are bringing back the idea of a neighbourhood being a caring, sharing community.
Seeing the kids all playing in the street, splashing water and building sandcastles, waiting patiently to have their face-painted, laughing, running, and enjoying the freedom, truly brings back images of a bygone era.
Let's try and be more like Queens Road and share our lives with those around us!
