People are getting together for the first time after a year of restrictions with a community picnic and riverside walk in Wapping as part of the country’s first Thank You Day after lockdown.
The event, on Sunday, July 4, is aimed at encouraging everyone to meet up after months of not seeing each other.
Those who faced isolation during the pandemic are being urged to join the community as part of a nationwide Together Coalition campaign founded by Brendan Cox — husband of murdered MP Jo Cox from Wapping — to help build “a more connected society”.
It is being organised by Wapping Bangladesh Association starting with a community clean up and walk from 11am to 1pm, followed by a barbecue and children’s activities from 1pm to 6pm.
“We’ve invited those who can be hard to reach but still want to be part of society,” organiser Atikur Rahman said. “We’re looking forward to seeing people being sociable again and getting to know each other at what has been a challenging time.”
Sunday’s get-together is part of a Thank You Day campaign started as a grassroots movement which has grown from just 13 people to become a nationwide event.
It was founded by Brendan to bring the nation together on the fifth anniversary of Jo’s murder by a right-wing extremist on June 16, 2016, in her Yorkshire constituency.
The couple were living with their two young children at the time in their Thames houseboat at Wapping’s Hermitage moorings.
Jo’s sister Kim Leadbeater took up her baton when she won her old Batley and Spen constituency for Labour in a by-election on Thursday.
Brendan’s campaign of national unity is backed by hundreds of organisations, including Virgin Media O2, which is paying for Sunday’s community event at Wapping.
The media giant has put aside £500,000 for the campaign with grants of £1,000 for environment and community projects up and down the country to bring people together for “a more connected society”.
The new network is working with celebrities such as Simon Cowell, Gary Lineker and even prime minister Boris Johnson.
Some 16 million people are expected to take part in the UK’s first-ever National Thank You Day at 500 events all over Britain.
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