COMMUNITY spirit was to the forefront on Abbey Road in Sale on Sunday, as for the second year running residents took part in the Big Lunch.

Abbey Road’s Big Lunch received overwhelming support from businesses, the council and the Trafford Partnership scheme, “Make Sale Smile”. On the Friday and Saturday before the Big Lunch, the organisers, Mark and Chrissie Hayward, hosted community baking sessions. The cakes and biscuits made during these sessions added a colourful selection of sweet treats to the buffet table and meant that the young and old alike were able to meet before the big day and play their part in contributing to the event’s success.

As with last year’s Big Lunch, the event took place in support of Sale charity Stockdales, which supports children and adults with learning difficulties.

Abbey Road’s Big Lunch was privileged to be joined some of the people it supports and, as a result of kind donations from residents and businesses, was able to hold a raffle in favour of this much valued charity .

Asda Living in Altrincham was one such local business which donated prizes and Christine Ashton from their community life section stated: “Asda Living Altrincham have run their own Big Lunch in store for the past three years and fully support the Big Lunch idea. We are very pleased to support this local Big Lunch as part of their community life agenda.”

The day was filled with laughter and fun and The Big Lunch brought a community together as one big family. Residents brought their homes out onto the street to share with their neighbours and many new friendships have been formed spanning generations.

Joint organiser Mark Hayward said: “We had such a great time last year with our first annual community street party. It really brought the community together, introduced neighbours and raised money for a local charity.

"With the weather coming out for us everyone had another amazing day. The residents from Stockdales also joined the party and we raised almost £200 to help the charity carry on its amazing work.

"All of this wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Trafford Council and the Sale Local Partnership’s Make Sale Smile campaign. So we’d like to thanks them for all their support, and hope we can continue to bring our community together through the street party for years to come.”

The Big Lunch is an idea from the Eden Project made possible by the Big Lottery Fund and supported by Halifax and Asda. It is the perfect recipe for having fun with neighbours, feeding community spirit and helping to build stronger neighbourhoods.

In 2014, 4.83 million people took part in The Big Lunch across the UK.