Michaelmas celebrations and shared community meals are popular traditions in many of our communities. With lockdown restrictions easing, we’re enjoying the chance to get together again.
Delicious homegrown food at Stourbridge
Our first community meal in 14 months and our Michaelmas Festival celebrations both coincided with the harvest from Ashfield Gardens. Freshly picked salads, homemade quiches and a big apple crumble from the site’s 200 apple trees were on the menu for our community meal in September.
Christina helped prepare the food for the 20 community members who came together in the barn.
‘A whole team of us got together to do the cooking,’ she says. ‘There was a real team spirit with everyone working together.’
Michaelmas celebrations at Stourbridge
Mad Hatter’s Tea Party
Meanwhile, in Gloucestershire, Emily had the idea to bring the communities of Grange Village, Oaklands Park and Lydney Community Support together with a Mad Hatter’s fancy dress party.‘Emily and her friends planned what was needed,’ says Janet, Co-production Lead.
Mad Hatters Tea Party at Gloucestershire communities
‘Ladies from our Knit and Natter group made decorations. Other groups made things like a giant toadstool to bring the theme to life.’
On the day, everyone brought food and drink to share, and there were some amazing hats and costumes on display.
Brian from Lydney Community Support gave the event a positive review. ‘People are still talking about it two weeks later!’ he says.
Christina from Stourbridge would definitely agree:
‘We all had news to exchange about what we’d been doing, and there were a lot of new faces too. You felt that something was missing during lockdown. It was lovely to get everyone back together.’
