Cheer and Connection at The Community Leaders’ Lunch

Here at East Brighton Trust, we love seeing people come together to create new and meaningful connections and celebrate our communities, and last Friday saw us doing exactly that, as we welcomed guests to our Community Leaders’ Lunch at St George’s Hall in Moulsecoomb.

For the third time this year, East Brighton Trust brought together a room full of community champions including local residents doing fantastic things in the community, headteachers of local schools, sports leaders, those fighting inequality around food, education, employment, local councilors, those running food projects, art projects and many others who are making a difference across North and East Brighton.

We were lucky to have Carly North and Jess Cork from ‘Cooking Good In The Community’ in charge of the food again, and while they cooked up a storm in the kitchen, the wonderful Alan Cooke from our board of directors gave a fantastically warm welcome and introduced the speakers of the hour.

Jane Hunter gave a brilliant introduction to St George’s Hall, followed by Tim Holtam From Brighton Table Tennis Club who shared the exciting news about their new venue which will be opening on Moulsecoomb Way within the next month. Anne Bickmore told us about the ABC Fund and the incredible ways that they support and give opportunities to huge numbers of children. Finally, Carlie Goldsmith and Curtis James from Class Divide gave a wonderful and powerful speech about the educational divides that especially impact East Brighton communities, the incredible work that they are doing, and how we can support their campaigns.

Each speaker brought such warmth and energy to the already vibrant community spirit in the room.

There was a lot of delicious food as everyone came together to eat, drink, and connect.

When they aren’t cooking for events such as this, Carly and Jess told us how they also work hard to address food inequality by improving access to good quality food across local communities.

They also teach cooking skills, supporting those facing food insecurity, with profits going towards cookery workshops and events locally.

Over lunch and afterward, conversations and connections brought a real buzz to the room, with a lot of laughter, energy, and email-swapping, with everyone’s participation and enthusiasm really bringing the community together.

Cllr Mitchie Alexander told us:

“It was such a lovely event! It was brilliant to have a chance to chat to other East Brighton volunteers and local not-for-profit organisations.

These networking lunches are a very valuable opportunity for us all to share ideas and ambitions for the local communities and I truly believe the networking lunches really help to further embed and grow positive and creative community confidence and cohesion”