This year, The Big Lunch takes place from Thursday 2nd - Sunday 5th June. It is the UK’s annual thank you celebration for neighbours and communities – a chance to make community connections, get to know one another better and bring folk together to share food and fun. Your local greenspace is the perfect venue! 

Grow 73 has held their annual Big Lunch event outdoors in Overtoun Park in Rutherglen since 2015. They invite the community to bring their lunch to the park to eat together, listen to live music, make new friends and enjoy various activities including storytelling, art and seed bomb making. Eugenie Aroutcheff, Grow 73 Project Co-ordinator explains:

“We love a good get together especially in our lovely local greenspace, Overtoun Park. We are big fans of the Big Lunch… a simple act of community, friendship and fun. The feedback from people who come along is that the Big Lunch is a great way to meet new people and that it helps to create a real sense of community.”

The Big Lunch has now become Grow 73's signature event, with over 200 people getting together annually outdoors in their local park. Grow 73 strongly believe these events are not only fun, social occasions but they are key to tackling issues such as loneliness and social isolation and can play a big part in developing community spirit. Eugenie adds:

"The Big Lunch takes a lot of planning and organising for our small group of volunteers but we get a real kick from seeing it all come together, people chatting and enjoying themselves in our lovely park"

Taking part and enjoying being outside couldn't be easier!

Eden Project Communities and greenspace scotland have teamed up to share some top tips for hosting your Big Lunch outside.

View Top Tips

Greenspaces, parks, gardens, and streets have become even more important to us as venues for social activities as we continue to adapt to living with covid-19. This is why greenspace scotland created a free resource Better Outside – using our spaces more to provide examples, ideas, inspiration and resources for social activities outside and is very useful for groups new to organising outdoor events.

The Better Outside toolkit features projects and inspiring ideas, together with downloadable resources which provide more information about making it happen, things to consider, who can help and real-life examples. The Technical Resources include a technical note, low cost shelter design guide and Ideas Source Book, which provides ideas and examples of seats, shelters, storage, lights and wi-fi from low cost interventions for as little as £5 per person to more ambitious projects that would require professional support and planning. 

Some baking inspiration too

This year, the 2020’s Great British Bake Off winner, Peter Sawkins will act as the Scottish Ambassador for the campaign. A recipe for success, Edinburgh-born Peter bagged himself the title of becoming Bake Off’s youngest ever winner in 2020.

“Food has an incredible power to bring people closer together to build relationships and connections, and after a challenging couple of years, hosting a Big Lunch is a great excuse to get people together to enjoy some delicious food and connect with one another!”