THE BIG Lunch lived up to its name on Sunday - there was enough food to last the whole day as the people of Greenford tucked in to the free offering.

Holy Cross Church, Oldfield Lane, was the venue as people from all over the town piled in to enjoy the food and games for the children.

All this was made possible by the Big Lunch, an existing community initiative led by the Eden Project and partnered by Halifax, which aims to bring local communities together and create a feel-good factor in British towns.

One of the organisers, assistant warden Jill Marsh, admits the day went better than she could have ever expected.

“Our Big Lunch was great and everyone seemed to have a brilliant day, which was the reason behind it all,” she said.

“There is always that point in the day when you are wondering if anyone will actually show, but we had between 100 and 120 people come down, so that was great.

“It was a bring-and-share lunch and people bought more than enough food to last the whole day and it all went down really well.

“Parents seemed to enjoy themselves because they could meet new people while their kids played in a safe environment.

“The Big Lunch is all about bringing the community together and, hopefully, that is exactly what we did on Sunday, with new people coming along too and seeing what the church is all about.”

Since 2009, thousands of Big Lunches have taken place. This year saw people up and down the country join forces to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation.

This was the second Big Lunch Jill has helped organise and she admits she would like to make it a hat-trick next year.

“The Big Lunch is a great thing to do for the community and it doesn’t take a lot of effort because everyone brings their own food,” she added.

As a proud partner of The Big Lunch, an existing community initiative led by the Eden Project, Halifax is inviting everyone who took part on Sunday, June 2, to share their photographs for a chance to win a family break to the Eden Project in Cornwall. To find out more or to upload your photographs, visit www.facebook.com/halifax