YOUNG and old alike shared one big meal together as part of a national initiative to foster good relations between neighbours.

Bishopstone Primary School hosted a Big Lunch, part of the Eden Project and funded by the Big Lottery Fund, on Friday for up to 100 people from around the village.

Youngsters from Hillsborough nursery joined in the meal, as well as parents and teachers, enjoying a healthy buffet of fruit and vegetables, along with a few homemade cakes.

It came a week after the pupils at the primary school had tuned into a Jamie Oliver live cookery session, as the Naked Chef bid to beat the world record for the most children around the world cooking at any one time.

Headteacher Emma Lindsay said the school was keen on making healthy food fun for the children.

She said: “We invited the community in as part of our link with the Big Lunch – it’s our first year so it was great to have such a large turnout.

“It was a real chance for the children and adults to get together in a way they wouldn’t normally and feel a real sense of community.

“It was fantastic.

“There were groups of children who were going around meeting groups of adults, almost like it was a big networking event.

“The only real shame was that the weather wasn’t great so we couldn’t go outdoors.”

The Big Lunch was cooked up by the Eden Project in 2009, with the aim of getting as many people as possible across the whole of the UK to have lunch with their neighbours annually on the first Sunday in June.

But Bishopstone went ahead and did it early due to half-term, Mrs Lindsay said.

She said: “Everyone thoroughly enjoyed it.

“We had a buffet of fruit and vegetables but also some homemade cakes for the children.

“It was great opportunity to bring everyone together.”

Meanwhile, the previous week, the youngsters joined in as the celebrity chef attempted to break a world record for the most people ever involved in a 24 hour cooking lesson.

A total of 9,000 schools around the world were taking part to make the same dish as it was screened live, direct to Bishopstone’s whiteboard.

Mrs Lindsay said: “The whole school had to make Rainbow wraps, which are just tortilla wraps with lots of vegetables in, like carrots and beetroot, to make it colourful.

“We had the live feed showing on the whiteboard and the children followed each step along with Jamie.”