On your marks, get set, GO !!

Well, what can I say, my fears were unfounded and we had great support on Friday night’s first meeting with 18 people in attendance. Everyone was of the opinion that The Queens Road Big Lunch 2010 was a great idea and that we should make it bigger and better than last year.

Some key messages:

• Whilst we have many nationalities in the street, an aspect picked upon by the media last year, we shouldn’t make this the main focus of the party – if people wish to dress up, cook food and decorate in ways which represent their nationality or culture then fine, but it is up to each person to do so – this will NOT be a formal theme; Derrick (no28) and Lucy (37a) are covering media liaison;
• We will raise money for charity from the raffle and anything also left over after necessary costs will be added to that amount and this year it will be donated to BYHP (Banbury Young Homeless Project) http://www.byhp.org.uk/index.htm Cathy at 61 will be the Charity Liaison person so any relevant ideas to her please;
• The way we organise the street will be better defined once we know how many people and what events we are having but we feel that bring everyone physically closer together (hopefully not huddling under gazebos to avoid the rain) will bring us closer together as a community;
• Music and entertainment is very much a favoured aspect, and Antony at number 51 has taken the lead in this area; any budding musicians, singers, dancers – please let Antony know;
• Items such as the bouncy castle, fire engine, face painting (and hair spraying!), childrens competition, book exchange and raffle will be back this year and thinking caps are on for more ideas; if you have anything to donate as raffle prizes or know companies who may support please let Tim at 82 know;
• Food is a primary consideration and amongst the ideas are an ice cream stand, produce exchange, “bring and share” table – duly labelled with ingredients so people know what they’re eating !! Kate at 47 and Tracey at 86 have kindly offered to cover all aspects of food and drink so more to come from them;
• We believe that the administrative formalities will be a little easier this year, having made the contacts and knowing how it works more than we did last year – however we are highly likely to incur costs in this area and so are asking for a minimum donation of £10 per household to contribute towards the costs of the fun !! John at No1 is going to help with Fundraising.
•  There are two be two main competitions – one for the street’s Best Dressed House and so get your thinking caps on for creative ideas and also let’s all get our brooms out to give the street a good spring clean to get it ready well in advance of the Big Lunch, and one for the children to dress up and come in fancy dress / costumes etc, so get sewing and sticking !!
• Really important aspects of the planing and organisation, such as Council Liaison, Environmental / Health & Safety and Parking and Street Logistics have been picked up by Jon (no 26) Clare (no 32) and Roger (no 19) respectively and in her absence Roger co-opted Sue also of No19 to be the Treasurer for this year, which is a really important role, so please give your contributions to Sue (maybe best to put them into an envelope and pop them through the door as she is on crutches at present !) So thanks to you all !

Another major area to work on is getting the interest started, maintained and ensuring everyone is being made aware of what is going on – Marlene (no8), Lucy (no2), Claire (no26) and Lucy (37a) are the main residents communication team but I also pitched in with Marlene and Lucy this am to knock doors and get posters up in windows. We have had a good initial response and posters are up in windows already so we are really off and running ! If you’ve not been spoken to yet please leave a comment, send an email to BiglunchQueensRd@aol.com or contact us via the Twitter page  There will also be a Facebook group soon…watch this space.

That’s all for now – if I’ve forgotten anyone / thing, then my apologies ! Next organising team meeting on Thursday 29th April at 7.30pm at No51 (Antony & Charlotte’s house) – Have a good week.

Prove To Me It Is Worthwhile (please…)

So, tomorrow night is the first meeting (7.30pm @ The Church House) and a key moment for me, as the interest in the street party has been a slow burn so far this year and on many occasions I’ve decided not to spend my time and energy on organising an event this year as I feel it is going to be too much work again and my time is limited.

However, as I’ve said in recent posts, my enthusiasm had been re-ignited by an increasing amount of discussions, offers of support and a good hopeful feeling brought on by improved weather and more sunlight and so I was feeling upbeat and determined to make things work and came home this evening to do some planning for tomorrow’s meeting.

BUT, soon after arriving back at my front door, whilst putting the bins away I was verbally abused by a group of young boys who I’m pretty sure don’t live in the street and who were on their way back from playing basketball in the park. As anyone who knows me will concur, I’m a pretty big bloke and after forty years it isn’t the first time I’ve heard such name-calling (nor will it be the last no doubt) but those kids are part of the wider community in this area and whilst I did in no way react to them shouting abuse at me all the way up the street, it did make me think that doing things to improve a community when that is what you get in return really isn’t worth the effort. Yet, I know that doing things for the community could help change this type of disrespect and bad behaviour so I’m in two minds…..

So, I’ve got a clear milestone in my mind for tomorrow’s meeting – if we don’t get 10 people at least in attendance who have the same fundamental community spirit as I do and who really want to make the street party work (maybe as a springboard to other community initiatives) then I’ll go with my current feeling, close the blog and Twitter site and will call it quits.

The Hard Work Starts Here !

Have sorted the venue and time for the 1st meeting for this year’s Queens Road Big Lunch Street Party organisation – The Church House function room FRI 16TH APRIL 7.30PM – Please come along and offer your ideas and support for this year’s street party !! Tell your friends and neighbours – lets get this off the ground !! And we can have a drink !!

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