What is The Great Get Together? Neighbourhood street party events celebrate memory of MP Jo Cox
THE Great Get Together is a weekend-long street party event that was set up following the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox.
Here is everything you need to know about the two-day festival that encourages unity, peace and community spirit…
What is The Great Get Together?
The Great Get Together is a summer festival that is happening this weekend in memory of Jo.
Members of the public are encouraged to hold street parties and neighbourhood celebrations to boost community spirit.
Jo’s widowed husband Brendan is one of the main driving forces behind the initiative which will last a whole weekend.
explains: “We’re inviting people to get together with their neighbours to share food and celebrate all that we hold in common.
“It could be a street party or a shared barbecue, a picnic or a bake off. What matters is that we have fun and bring communities closer together.”
The event has garnered much support with celebrities such as Eddie Izzard endorsing the commemoration.
Why are people participating in The Great Get Together?
The summer event was inspired by Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed on June 16, 2016.
Her life was brought to a brutal end by ‘Nazi’ Thomas Mair.
Following the heart-breaking murder, organisers are hoping that they can find a positive in the tragedy.
The sentiment of the celebrations are to encourage communities and neighbours to be brought closer together.
Jo's husband Brendan is teaming up with charity backers to launch the event at Clarence House alongside the Duchess of Cornwall and telly chef Jamie Oliver.
He told BBC Radio 4: “We wanted to make sure it reflected Jo… we didn’t want it to be a solemn event with silences and mourning. We wanted it to be joyful.
“Given that Jo’s killing was designed to tear us apart, to bring communities apart, we wanted to show how united our country remains.”
He appeared on ITV's Lorraine on June 13 to speak about his late wife and the upcoming event.
How can I get involved in The Great Get Together?
As it stands, more than 111,000 celebrations have already been arranged for the festivity.
The Great Get Together has teamed up with The Big Lunch to put together a to help you get started with your party planning.
Organisers have outlined the five simple steps to getting involved…
- Decide when and where is best for you.
- Get the invites out!
- Make the food as simple or as fancy as you want. You can ask others to bring something. We’ve also got an activity guide for those of you that like some organised fun.
- Get creative with gingham, our campaign theme.
- Enjoy! And share your photos with us on social media using #GreatGetTogether and #moreincommon.
