BE A PART OF IT - Stage your own Big Cream Tea

Thanks to Korky Paul for donating this illustration

10‑16 APRIL 2024

Large or small, it’s your choice

Your own Big Cream Tea can be a public event for dozens of people, or a much more intimate gathering of a few friends. It could even be just you and your partner. Every event is welcome as part of our UK‑wide Big Cream Tea.

Stay in touch to boost the Big Cream Team Spirit

We encourage you to sign up for our email mailing list so that you always get the latest news, reminders and tips during the run-up to the Big Cream Tea. Check out our contact page to see how to join our WhatsApp chat group or follow us on X (Twitter). Social media can help to share ideas and experience with other Big Cream Tea organizers across the country, and to let as many people as possible know about our UK‑wide initiative.

Fundraising

Your Big Cream Tea provides a great opportunity for fundraising towards your local Parkinson’s support group or our national charity. Parkinson’s UK can help with publicity materials to promote your event.

Raffles, and cake or produce sales, can be a great additional fundraiser at events of this kind. A simple collecting tin can also be very useful. The friendly atmosphere of a Cream Tea can encourage your guests to be extra generous!

If you are fortunate enough to get sponsorship from local businesses, either in money or items for sale or raffle, don’t forget to acknowledge their support in a poster or banner at the event.

Awareness

The Big Cream Tea is a highlight of Parkinson’s Awareness Week. It’s a great opportunity to help friends and members of the public to understand what Parkinson’s is, and what living with it is like. Ask your local Parkinson’s UK contacts to provide leaflets, posters and informational material that you can hand out at your Big Cream Tea event. Any leftover material can go to GP surgeries or other healthcare settings where it may be useful to patients.

Aim to have people with Parkinson’s involved as much as possible in the event. Pouring dozens of cups of tea is perhaps not the most Parkinson’s-friendly activity, but PwPs can bring real impact to the event by greeting guests, sharing their experience of the condition, and dispelling common myths about it.

Costs

If you need to buy the ingredients for your Cream Tea, you can expect the cost of cream and jam to be around 70p to £1.40 per serving depending on where and how you obtain it - there is much more information about the catering aspects on our Making It Happen page, including a scone recipe from Parkinson’s UK President and baking guru Jane Asher. Other materials, such as tea and the ingredients for scones, will be much less costly per serving.

The Cream Tea Society (opens in new window) is a marketing organization run jointly by jam maker Tiptree and the Cornish cream company Rodda’s. They make donations of cream and jam, in convenient individual portions, to charitable events. Apply early to have the best chance of success.

You may be able to hold the event in your own home, or at a venue such as a local hall or church room. Venue hire is often available at a reduced rate for charitable organizations, but nevertheless this is a cost factor to consider. Remember that you will need extra time at the venue before your event begins to set up, and after the end to clear away.

The Big Cream Tea is an initiative of the Oxford Branch of Parkinson's UK and is encouraged, supported and publicised by our national charity. We’re very grateful to everyone in the charity who has helped.

Parkinson's UK is the operating name of the Parkinson's Disease Society of the United Kingdom.

A registered charity in England and Wales (258197) and in Scotland (SC037554). Registered office: 215 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 1EJ.