In May, two of our Senior members, Izzy & Lexi, were invited to celebrate the King’s Coronation with a Big Lunch on Downing Street.
On Sunday 7th May, Patricia (Senior Youth Worker) and Gemma (Youth and Community Worker), along with two young people in their final year of club based sessions, Izzy and Lexi, travelled down to London to attend the Prime Minister’s Big Lunch Event at Downing Street to celebrate ‘the UK’s community heroes’.
We travelled by train from Blackpool to Euston. An exciting experience, as not everyone had been on a train past the neighbouring town of Preston.
Once in London we travelled straight to Downing Street, where we were greeted by staff offering drinks. Izzy and Lexi commented on how kind everyone was and mentioned they are not normally treated with such respect.
We took pictures outside of Number 10, and chatted to some inspiring members of the public, as well as the American President’s wife, and the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, himself! We even got a selfie.
We tried some food we hadn’t eaten before, drank mocktails served by waiters with the most positive attitudes, listened to the brass band that played songs from films our members had watched during their childhood and ate the biggest victoria sponge cake you can imagine!
It was such a ‘pinch me’ moment. Chatting and eating whilst being surrounded by the media, police officers and what appeared to be (in the young peoples words) ‘CIA agents like off the films!’
Following the Big Lunch, we visited various locations in London, including Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace. We were all in awe of our surroundings, and eventually stopped to enjoy a chilled out rest under a tree whilst admiring the view of the park.
After a long day of being wined and dined and sightseeing, we jumped on the tube back to Euston. An experience in itself!
A huge thanks to Lancashire Association of Boys & Girls Clubs for helping to make this happen for us!
Here’s what Izzy and Lexi had to say about the experience:
“Never could we imagine being so lucky to have this opportunity travelling to London for the DAY and have experienced so much.
2nd time being on a train, but first time being past Preston. Walking around Leicester Square, Waterloo, Piccadilly, the Ritz, park lane, St James Park, Big Ben, London Eye, London Bridge, River themes, south bank, Westminster, Buckingham Palace, the tube….not enough time as there was much more we could have done!
Mixed emotions of nerves travelling and not knowing what to expect, especially meeting posh people at Downing Street. However, they were all so lovely, and we didn’t feel as common as some people made us out to be from Blackpool.
We might not agree with all policies created and in place currently, but we could agree that the cake was great!
These days don’t happen to us young people, especially from Claremont, but today it did.
Thank you to those people who made it possible, especially our club, Magic Club”
