Category: Community

I was standing at the bus stop outside the village hall last Tuesday—the one built in 1894, mind you, which has seen better days—watching a young man stare blankly at a smartphone app. He looked utterly defeated because some glossy brochure had told him that the only way to manage a community commute was through […]

I can still smell the singed wool of my old jumper from the 1994 bonfire down by the old mill stream—a damp, smoky scent that stays with you long after the embers have gone cold. I remember standing there, watching a stray spark drift toward a stack of dry timber, and thinking that all the […]

I saw a post on the village Facebook group the other day suggesting that the best way to greet newcomers involves a “curated welcome hamper” filled with artisanal cheeses and expensive scented candles. Give me a break. If you’re looking for advice on how to welcome new neighbours that involves spending forty quid on a […]

I spent forty minutes yesterday wrestling with a rusted gate latch near the north boundary, and it struck me just how much people get wrong about running a village allotment site. You’ll hear plenty of talk about “community engagement strategies” or “sustainable horticultural frameworks” from the folks at the council, but that’s all well and […]

I was sitting in the village hall last Tuesday, listening to a committee member drone on about “strategic frameworks” and “resource allocation models” for a new community project. It’s enough to make you want to head straight back to the workshop and shut the door. If you’re looking up how to start a mens shed, […]

I was sitting in the village hall last Tuesday, listening to a consultant in a sharp suit drone on about “strategic urban regeneration frameworks,” and I nearly walked out. People love to wrap simple things in layers of jargon to make them sound more expensive than they are, but when it comes to community land […]

I remember standing in the middle of the village green back in ’94, watching a committee spend three hours debating the precise shade of bunting for the marquee, while the actual tea tent was missing a kettle and the raffle prizes were sitting in the back of a damp van. It’s a common mistake, thinking […]

I was standing by the old pavilion last Tuesday—the one built in 1924, though the roof tiles have been a mess since the late eighties—and I watched a group of youngsters kick a ball against a fence that’s seen better decades. It struck me then that most people think reviving a village sports club requires […]

I remember sitting in the draughty village hall back in 2012, watching Arthur from the parish council struggle with a stack of forms that looked more like a tax audit than a request for a new bench. He’d spent three weeks trying to figure out how to apply for a community grant just to fix […]

I spent forty minutes yesterday walking down Mill Lane—the one with the drainage issues that always makes the footpath a bit of a bog in November—and I saw three teenagers sitting on a damp stone wall, staring at nothing in particular. It struck me then that we spend far too much time in parish meetings […]