Publicans have a great opportunity this June to encourage people in their local area, to realise the benefit of making connections with others, by taking part in events and activities at their pub or online as part of The Big Lunch’s Month of Community, www.thebiglunch.com.
The Month of Community, which starts on Saturday, 5 June, builds on The Big Lunch’s annual thanksgiving weekend, organised by Eden Project Communities, and helps celebrate and give thanks to neighbours and communities. Find out more here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj_Y10SAi3w
The idea of the initiative is that instead of only a weekend to host The Big Lunch events, organisers can put on activities whenever they wish in June. It offers a chance to celebrate community connections and to help people to get to know each other better.
By becoming better connected people can feel less isolated and in the process this helps to alleviate feelings of loneliness. Find more information about Pub is The Hub’s campaign to help support publicans tackle the growing issue of societal loneliness here: www.pubisthehub.org.uk/join-inn-last-orders-for-loneliness
Feeding the soul
Research by The Big Lunch shows that 78% of people who attended an event say their neighbourhood is friendlier and 4.5 million people say The Big Lunch helped them feel less lonely.
The Big Lunch has teamed up with other UK organisations and events for this Month of Community, including the Jo Cox Foundation’s The Great Get Together, Loneliness Awareness Week, which takes place from 14 to 18 June, www.marmaladetrust.org/law, Carers Week, Volunteers’ Week and Small Charity Week.
Ideas for getting involved:
- Bring people together with an event in your pub’s garden or outdoor space. A barbecue could work well for this. Be mindful of any Covid-19 secure guidelines which may still need to be adhered to.
- Host an event as part of The Great Get Together, greatgettogether.org/2021, which takes place from 18 to 20 June and includes events such as The Great Walk Together The Great Walk Together Toolkit – Google Docs
- Put on a lunch or coffee morning to say cheers to volunteers, including those that help at the pub, during Volunteers Week, volunteersweek.org, which runs from 1 to 7 June. You could also look to invite unpaid carers in for complimentary tea and cake during Carers Week – 7 to 13 June, www.carersweek.org, or for a cream tea on National Cream Tea Day on 25 June, www.creamteasociety.co.uk
- Host a ‘Walking, Talking Lunch’ – encourage local people to meet outside the pub for a coffee, go off for a walk together and then return for an al fresco, socially distanced sandwich at the pub.
- For those people who can’t or don’t yet feel able to come to the pub host an event online. You could take orders for a delicious lunch for people to enjoy together during the online event. Another idea is to sell meal kits and host an online community cook-along.
- Use the Month of Community to fundraise for a local community group or charity. During the month you could also ask people to bring in tins or jars of food to donate to your local food bank. You could potentially focus activity on Small Charity Week, smallcharityweek.com
- Bring parents with young children together for a picnic in your pub’s garden during National Picnic Week which runs from 19 to 27 June – National Picnic Week – National Picnic Week
*Please ensure you are complying with all current Covid-19 legislation and guidance when planning and hosting activities.
Find more information, ideas and downloadable resources for The Big Lunch’s Month of Community see www.thebiglunch.com