Big Lunch 3rd June How to

THE 2012 JUBILEE STREET PARTY ON ASHCOMBE ROAD. THE BASICS 

 

- WEATHER: of course, we don't know what the weather will be like on the day. This is Great Britain after all.

If there is a massive downpour, storm or tempest on the day, obviously, that will change plans a bit. But the advantage is that each of us can decide at the last minute whether to drag furniture and crockery out on the road. We got soaked first thing 3 years ago (I was drenched after 5 minutes into the road closure), and the wind was facetiously turning marquees into giant kites, but all in all, we had copious amounts of sunshine.

- PEOPLE : we don't know how many of us will be here: all residents of Ashcombe Road, Chalkpit Lane, Chalkpit Terrace, Limeway Terrace, Mason's Paddock, Ranmore Road, Station Approach, Yew Tree Road (And I'm sure I'm forgetting some) have received a little flyer or seen a poster here and there. Provided that everyone is fairly autonomous and can look after their own food, drink, picnic table, chairs, then there is no problem. The other thing to keep in mind, although very trivial, is that if you need to... spend a penny, it's better if you do live nearby or have a friend who does. If you know you will have difficulty walking or carrying things and your immediate neighbours can't help, then do ask us, we'll send someone to help or come ourselves

- FOOD: the basic principle is that everybody brings their own. This way, the expenses are kept to a minimum. Now, if you want to bake a  big cake, or share a barbecue with others, etc, do get in touch.

-DRINKS: Of course it is OK to bring a bit of alcohol to celebrate.  We'll be sensible. We'll just have to keep an eye on the youngsters and be careful with glass bottles (and other breakable things): there will be children and toddlers all over he place, so glass debris not a good idea. Maybe the more things are contained in plastic rather than glass, the better.

-DECORATING Residents can either get in touch to contribute balloons/bunting/etc, and will store it at my place or Linda's; or they can join as soon as the road is closed, 11am on Sunday 3rd, and decorate then: 

11 to 12 on the 3rd will be set up time for bunting, marquees, etc. Do get in touch if you are planning to be there. The people living on the closed portion of the road can of course decorate in advance their own front garden if they like (no obligation though). Again, the idea is to keep expenses and waste to a minimum, but still have a lovely set up on the day. 

On the 3rd we suggest: 

-that we all wear bright coloured tops (not just the tradition blue red white). 

-that we each bring white or bright colour table cloth for our table. 

-that if we have a bouquet of flowers at home at the time, we take it out as well and put it on the table.

-if we have bright coloured balloons left over in our drawers, (even ones with "Happy Birthday!" written on them), we can take them and hook them to the bunting string with a bit of tape or thread. We'll get the kids to inflate them...

-ROAD: It will be closed from 1and we'll use it from 11am to 6pm. The council should drop the road signs (like this one) at Linda's or mine.

- INSURANCE AND MONEY : we have decided to take an insurance cover for the day, mostly because we are closing a fairly large space to traffic. It is just to do things by the book. That will probably be the only real expense : around £80 for a daytime street party. We'll put a poster on the day showing exactly how much we spent, then if each family chips in  a few pounds, we should quickly cover for it. If we end up with more than we spent on the insurance, we decided to donate the rest to St Martin's School, to say thank you for using their car park on the day.

-RUBBISH : ideally, each family brings a couple of bags to deal with waste, plastics etc. But last time, we had quite a bit of cleaning to do, mostly fallen/damaged bunting, exploded balloons, chocolate bars wrappers and crips bags, etc. Not a problem, a party is a party. We will provide black bin liners and a way to do a minimum recycling (glass, paper, plastic) If you'd like to help with tidying up, you'd be very very welcome!

-FUN AND GAMES : 

Here is stuff we could bring: 

stilts, 

giant chess garden game, 

ping pong set, 

badminton set, 

basket ball (maybe)

hoops

lots of chalk for hopscotch and drawing,

even a mini slide for very young ones. 

face painting set (and skills!)

If you have something to bring, please contact one of us.

-MUSIC

Recorded music: we'll get decent speakers out if the weather decides to be decent as well. then it will be a matter of connecting various ipods/players to them. We'll try and have nice music throughout the afternoon.

Live music:

An actual stage is not guaranteed yet, because it is quite a big thing to put together (cables, insulating from ground, mixing table, etc). But we are trying. And even if we didn't quite get a proper stage, anyone who plays music should get in touch: I'm dragging my keyboard and double bass out, I know two neighbours who are coming with their guitar, now who wants to join? It really is for the fun of it, nothing more. Anyone with music instrument who was there 3 years ago would tell you that it gets really exhilarating to play together, never mind the "bum notes".

That's all I can think of for now. Any questions, suggestions, do get in touch. And remember, we meet next wednesday at 7pm and Wednesday 30th May as well, in the community garden