WIN’s Latest Food and Friendship Event at St. Mary’s Walthamstow

Reported by 2026 WIN Intern, Elizabeth Keyworth-Munns. 

Last week, we held our most recent Food and Friendship event at St. Mary’s Church, Walthamstow. At this event, WIN invited the wider Waltham Forest community to pause their busy day and enjoy each other’s company over a hearty meal. St. Mary’s provided the perfect open space to return to the basics of friendship – understanding. Led by our own curiosity and the provided question cards, we spent the evening developing community relationships, meeting strangers and making new friends.

Having worked with the WIN community for just three days prior to the event as an intern, I found the depth of welcome at Food and Friendship particularly striking. Not despite, but in celebration of different cultures, faith and belief traditions, we shared life experiences, parts of ourselves that helped us connect. We asked each other questions from the prompt cards on each table, such as:

 

 

  • What is the story of your name?
  • What is your favourite tradition from your childhood?
  • What helps you feel hopeful?
  • What is your favourite comfort meal?

These conversations contributed to the atmosphere of welcome and sanctuary which greeted each friend, old or new, as they entered the space. Our ability to hear, accept, and understand parts of people’s personhood across diverse backgrounds demonstrates that our differences need not be a barrier to a true friendship.

Post-event, attendees shared their thoughts on the event:

  • ‘A lovely bonding time’
  • ‘Such lovely food and atmosphere’
  • ‘Thank you for a wonderful evening and making us feel so welcome.’

Food and Friendship is a shared meal project and therefore could not have been such a success without The Gleaners, providing a spectacular meal that kept our new friends coming back for seconds! ‘The Gleaners’ are a “not-for-profit workers’ cooperative” based in the Walthamstow area who follow a “solidarity, not charity” model of community empowerment. They served a delicious Caribbean stew, alongside rice, mixed vegetables, pickles, tomato salad and homemade hot sauce. Their fresh, fragrant provisions fuelled our conversation and provided enough for many to take away lunch for the next day too!

Learn more about our caterer’s community work here.

Attendees included representatives from Waltham Forest Faith Communities Forum, St Mary’s Church, Lea Bridge Library, and, of course, Forest WIN. We thank our attendees for their friendship and the National Lottery Community Fund for their support, enabling an evening of collective community success.

Contact maeve@wominet.org.uk to get involved with this project.

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