Luton joins The Big Lunch celebrations

On Sunday, more than 70 people from across Luton joined The Big Lunch celebrations at The Saints community Centre with a fun packed afternoon for all the family. The event was organised by South Anglia Housing, part of leading affordable housing provider Circle Anglia, in partnership with Saints Community Centre of Luton Borough Council and Bedfordshire Police.

Lots of residents from different cultural backgrounds went along to the event and brought with them a variety of their favorite national dishes. During the sunny afternoon the festive crowd got to know each other better over the delicious international buffet. They also took part in an array of activities including face painting, a bouncy castle, different board games, penalty shootout and even a radio broadcast opportunity.

Mr Miah, a South Anglia Housing resident from Galliard Close, said: “I attended the event with my family and have thoroughly enjoyed the day. It was such a nice event to bring the whole family and meet so many people from the same neighbourhood and above all taste so many different types of food.

“There was a time we all used to know each other in our neighbourhood but it doesn’t exist anymore. Events like this bring us all together and get to know each other better. It is certainly a very good thing for promoting better community cohesion. I would certainly like to see this event happening every year.”

South Anglia Housing is participating in The Big Lunch project as part of its mission to enhance the Life Chances of residents and make a positive difference to the local community. The team was supported by local business Batham Press and Diverse FM.

The Big Lunch project aims to build and strengthen communities by encouraging as many of the 61 million people in the UK as possible to sit down and have lunch together, with their neighbours, in their street, as a simple but profound act of community.

Ashuk Ahmed MBE, Community Development Manager for South Anglia Housing, said about the event: “It’s been a really fun day, with neighbours getting to know each other, playing all sorts of games and trying out many different types of mainly home cooked authentic dishes representing different countries. Everyone had a good time and was getting along great. We hope the event will help our work to strengthen communities.”

For further information please contact Maike Riedel at the Circle Anglia press office on 0845 234 0824 or email pressoffice@circleanglia.org.

Last modified 23/07/10