Bellenden Big Lunch

"The Bellenden Big Lunch was held on Sunday 19th July 2009 as part of the national Big Lunch initiated by the Eden Project and supported by the Government. http://www.thebiglunch.com It was organised in Bellenden Road by local residents within the Bellenden area (several streets around Bellenden Road). Bellenden Road was closed to traffic between Oxenford Street and Avondale Rise. The event ran between midday and finished about 5.30pm. Some of the shops in Bellenden Road shopping Parade further along the road also took part in various ways."

This was a really nice idea that took place as part of UK wide scheme to bring back a sense of community spirit to local neighborhoods. I actually live just off of the Bellenden Road which is one of the main shopping streets in the Peckham Rye area. Since living in South London I have noticed how little interaction there is between neighbors in the street and I felt that this was a simple but effective way of bringing people together and getting to know the people in the community.

Local shops and neighbors from the surrounding areas contributed sharing food, music games etc and made it a really successful day that I feel could definitely work in other countries, especially in major cities where there is a lack of community spirit and neighbor interaction and become more than just a one off event.



The event actually took place on Bellenden Road (not Bellenden Street) in Peckham (not South Camberwell) but nonetheless it received coverage on the BBC.






A video documenting the day shot by a local resident

www.thebiglunch.com