The Great Get Together

June 27, 2025

The Great Get Together The organizer of this event had been planning for months, with many local groups collaborating to make it a success. The main organizer, Anne Hannah, held weekly planning meetings with groups interested in coming together to celebrate Jo Cox’s belief that we have more in common than what divides us. Planning a big event like this was challenging, especially since Anne job is not a professional event organizer—she manages a family home and works full-time as a local councillor.

The event was a great success, Anne was an inspirational leader she done an amazing job organising, she tirelessly advocates for more women to get into politics. It's important to note that The Great Get Together is not a political event; representatives from all political parties were welcomed and invited, and those who attended demonstrated their support for communities coming together, supporting one another, and putting an end to hate speech. The event was designed to be inclusive with everybody welcomed,we also ensured it was not an exclusive event for people with money, as entry and entertainment was provided for free.

On the day of the event, annes event management team of volunteers arrived at 10:00 AM this crew of community helpers were from Polmont Community Hub and Polmont Community Council. The Vineyard Church meets at the hub on Sunday mornings, so we couldn't access the inside to start setting up the tables right away. We waited outside on a group that had promised a marquee would arrive, but unfortunately, they had canceled. This left us scrambling to find a way to put up a marquee. Thankfully, the hub had received funds from the council to purchase a marquee, but none of us had ever set one up before. With so many other tasks at hand, the last-minute cancellation caused a lot of anxiety and hard work. However, we managed to get the marquee up just in time as the rain began to fall on and off throughout the day.

This situation left the bookings co`ordinator & sustainability manager of the hub with many responsibilities, including helping groups set up, managing the buildings and the marquee, and networking to ensure everyone had a fun day. Despite the challenges, they accomplished everything, making it a non-stop day for our small team of volunteers. Hundreds of people turned up, and everyone enjoyed themselves, making new friends and connections.

One of the strongest connections PCHub made that day was with Baillyfields Community Hub. They had planned to put on a cricket display for the event, but the weather curtailed that. However, they provided incredible support by helping us set up our marquee and arranging tables for the stalls, as well as guiding guests around. It was clear to see why they were recognized as Falkirk District's Community Volunteer Services Organisation of the Year. They are a wonderful group and provided valuable assistance throughout the day. Since then, we have continued to build connections with them as part of the Sharing Community Scotland Network. We are encouraging them to join the network with us helping with our sharing libraries.

There was so much happening at the event that it’s impossible to capture everything in one blog post. We had a school choir and musicians, a performance by A Piper from camelon pipe Band, a games tournament organized by the Boys Brigade, and the Snowdrop Café serving tea, cakes, and biscuits. There was a fantastic teddy bears’ picnic, tombolas, and raffles organized by Polmont Community Council and the event organizers. We also had a power station, gifted by FELScotland, where attendees could charge their phones with fair trade organic carbohydrates. from True Origin scotlands Transform Trade movements biggest supplier who were present, along with a group encouraging female involvement in cross party politics,(elect her) they offered free face painting for the bairns. A local wildlife group and the Community Council shared a long table, and the bike maintenance team had their tools on display, Sustainable Thinking Scotland (STS) were there as well; STS & PCH had long talks together about growing vegetables, composting and mycology experiments, PCHub definitely plan to collaborate with them again in the near future.

the engaging discussion between our mycology expert, our composter, and John from Sustainable Thinking, who had some fantastic ideas on how we can improve our local environment by working together across all communities. Was fascinating to us and us to them, theres so many ways these two organistaions are ethically and sustainabilly aligned thinkers,it was definately a case of sustainable thinking and talking, here in this wee community, their definitely going to grow together in future, knowledge is yet another resource to add to our sharing libraries Overall, it was a fantastic day. Despite the weather causing some outdoor events to be canceled, we still managed to create a memorable experience. Additionally, the first aid station provided defibrillator training.and thankfully no first aid was required

We may have missed out on some things, as so much took place, but hopefully, it will be someone else’s responsibility next year. Polmont Community Hub enjoyed hosting this event, but our volunteers were completely worn out by the end. Afterward, we had to clean up before a new week began at the hub and our regular groups arrived the following day.the hub was clean and ready as if there had not been hundreds of people the day before