Road Closed for the event

Some of the neighbours

Neither my neighbour nor I had ever been to a street party, let alone organised one! We decided it would be a good way of bringing all the neighbours in our road together for a special picnic lunch, using the recent Royal Wedding as a catalyst.

Like many roads, I suspect, we all know our immediate neighbours, but we found we did not know the folks who live at the ends of our road and they did not know us either, and we live in a cul-de-sac!

We started by applying for a special road closure for a few hours that day so we could set up tables in the middle of the road and outdoor games for the children to safely play in the road. We then leaflet dropped out neighbours to let them know of this, and to ask them to come to an informal meeting to brainstorm what we would like to do on the day. This was then followed with an update to everyone and we all started ordering bunting!

The day dawned with low cloud and, whilst we were setting up the tables, a small downpour… oh dear! We persisted and slowly the sun came out!

All the bunting was fluttering happily and the tables looked amazing all decked out in red, white and blue.

At 12 o’clock, out came our neighbours, all carrying fantastic food for us all to share. It was a feast! It was a wonderful opportunity to introduce one to another; the adults all mixing brilliantly and the children laughing and playing together. And guess what… we even had a flypast (no, not the Red Arrows – everyone has them, so common!). Five vintage planes, the last of which was a triplane!

The icing on the cake was when we were joined by our most senior neighbour who happily mixed with everyone and really enjoyed being involved in such a lovely day.