Barnfield Avenue Street Party
By Joan Pring
safety@mo-ra.co
30 May, 2022
B
arnfield Avenue’s Diamond Jubilee street party stemmed from an idea by just one of its residents. He thought that if a street party could be organised it would be an ideal way of bringing the residents together and to get to meet those in our road whom we didn’t already know. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee provided the perfect opportunity to do this and to join in with the rest of the country’s celebrations.
Trying to get his idea off the ground involved much effort and hard work though, starting with investigating the viability of such an event and then following it up with the distribution of flyers to each house inviting those who were interested to make contact.
His efforts paid off and a number of us attended the initial meeting in our local Methodist Church. Ideas and plans were put forward and a second meeting was arranged with even more people attending.
From then onwards enthusiasm for the coming event grew as groups were formed, one to head the overall organisation, another to arrange the supply of food to cook on the day and request residents to bring what they could and another to organise activities for the children.
In view of the virtual non-stop rain we’d experienced previously on the day itself, albeit a bit chilly, we were blessed with sunshine. Suddenly our road was transformed. Bunting flew from around the trees surrounding our green, tables and chairs were set along the road, wonderful smells of cooking were emanating from the barbecues and additional tables were laden with a most fantastic array of dishes provided by the residents.
The children were formed into teams for the games starting with a treasure hunt, which proved to be the ideal way of getting them to participate together. There was a variety of things for them to do, the ‘old fashioned’ apple bobbing and net a duck in the paddling pool being extremely popular.
Much to the amusement of the children following their potato and spoon race, not to be outdone, the grown-ups had a go as well. The climax was the grown-ups tug of war, the ‘odds’ side of the road competing against the ‘evens’.
Around two hundred residents and guests attended. It was, indeed, a great way to get to meet and get to know each other better and, of course, to catch up with those that we hadn’t chatted to for some time. The fact that this is an age when many people are affected by day to day pressures and, as a consequence, have little time to socialise with neighbours as in the past made our day particularly enjoyable and special. The hope is that, due to it’s success, maybe something similar can be organised again and possibly make it an annual event.
Lastly, many thanks must be given to the Methodist Church for letting us use one of their rooms, free of charge, for our initial meetings.
Story contribution taken from the Autumn 2012 Edition of the MORA Magazine
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