Winter wander-land

Well, it has been a little while since the blog was updated and even though no one replied to my tweet the other day to volunteer to maintain this source of news and info about Queens Road Banbury activities, I thought it should be resurrected.

We had a successful, if very cold and damp, “Queens Road Jubilee Big Lunch” as part of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations back in June. Everyone exhibited the very best of British grit to stay outside when the elements were suggesting we did otherwise.

I will get around to doing a proper blog post about the 4th annual street party before we launch the ideas for the 5th Anniversary Queens Road Big Lunch (already entitled Le Big Lunch QR 2013). It will be on Sunday 14th July 2013 which is Bastille Day and hence will be a French theme.

BUT, in the meantime, a number of get-togethers have been taking place, a BBQ back in August for anyone interested in organising events, a monthly social since September and as part of all that interaction a marvellous idea was born, that of the Queens Road Front Garden Winter Market.

A cross between a Christmas Market, a craft sale, a food fair and a boot sale, the Front Garden Winter Market is just that; Queens Road residents will host a stand in the front garden of their house and will be selling a plethora of items, from home baked food to arts and crafts, toys, bric-a-brac, hot drinks and standard boot sale items. The poster attached gives an idea of just what will be on offer.

We are advertising this both inside and outside of Queens Road in order to generate interest from a wide range of people and at the time of writing we estimate 30-40 stands will be out on the day.

Unlike for the street party, we are not closing the street and hence we will all have to take great care to keep to the pavements and to stay safe. We will be putting up signs at both ends of the street to encourage traffic calming but everyone will have to remember this is a street sale and take care.

However we really want to encourage folks to come, have a wander around our lovely street, browse and buy !

If you have any questions then Liz at No1 and Tina at No 14 are the main organisers so please see them.

There is no obligation for stall holders to donate any money to the street party or to any specific charity but any donations made will be greatly received into the coffers for follow-on events and the charity we support in 2013.

Two final points – firstly, if you are planning to attend please come on foot as there is no available parking. We are just the other side of People’s Park from Horsefair, near to Woodgreen Leisure Centre & the open air pool.

Secondly, for Queens Road residents, we will be doing our collection for the Banbury Food Bank on the day so please look out for the flyer coming through your letterbox very soon.

Hope to see you on the day

Will It Won’t It ?

Well – following multiple emails and some discussions the recent flyer circulated by Clare and Rosie managed to generate some increased interest in the possibility of Queens Road, Banbury holding a Big Lunch Street Party. A number of people have contacted me as a result and although I personally still have a huge doubt over whether enough people will be able / willing to give enough time to organise everything required to make it happen, I’ve opened my mind again to the possibility of the event happening for a second year running on Sunday 18th July 2010.

My concern has been that knowing how much work we put into the organisation last year and the fact that Valérie and Amanda have left the street since then and I don’t have half as much spare time as last year (and I didn’t have much then) that I would be overwhelmed and left with egg on my face trying to make it happen again.
However, the green shoots of interest have started to show along with the early Spring blooms and people’s interest appears to be awakening.
So next step is to arrange a face to face meeting to review last year and to see what we want to do this year and who will do what to make it happen !

Tim

http://twitter.com/BigLunchQnsRd