Up to 1,000 expected for community lunch

Up to 1,000 people are expected to turn up to an annual event on Saturday aimed at bringing a local community closer together.

Nor Aziz, who has been organising her Big Lunch in the Coventry suburb of Canley since 2016, says it began as a much more modest gathering of about 300 local people.

"A small picnic has now developed into our much-loved annual Big Lunch event, with up to 1,000 people coming along in 2024," said Dr Aziz.

"Unrecognisable from that first picnic, but just as important in bringing neighbours together to show we care about our area and the people who live here."

The Big Lunch is a national scheme, launched by The Eden Project in 2009, which encourages communities to hold an event each June to share food and get to know each other.

Dr Aziz said she was inspired to act to bring people together, following the closure of her local park after it had been targeted by arsonists and those involved in anti-social behaviour.

She said local residents were from a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds, occupations, ages and ethnicities.

"Everybody has their own bubble of friends," she explained. "The first Big Lunch made me realise that was the only time we had come to get to know each other.

"[It] provides an opportunity for people from different backgrounds to come together, learn something new about each other, understand how everyone adds to the tapestry which makes up the community."

Since that first event, the gathering, held in Prior Deram Park, has grown to include music, interactive activities led by park rangers, and a parade including a samba band, bagpipers and a dance group.

Free barbecue stations serve up burgers and hot dogs, and local people can also sell homemade produce from stalls.

Dr Aziz organises it as part of a community steering group that includes local businesses, the council, local faith groups and the University of Warwick.

"To me, community is about , pride, understanding and being a good friend and neighbour," she said.

"Since the first Big Lunch, I feel like we set a new course of history, like a heritage for the new generation. We live in a deprived neighbourhood, we don't have much theatre or sports, or anything really for the community.

"But this is what pulls us together."

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.