Category: Community

I was standing by the old stone bridge last Tuesday—the one built back in 1842, if memory serves—watching the wind whip through the empty branches of the oaks, and it struck me just how bleak the high street looks when it’s dark. Now, I’ve seen some people suggest that village christmas lights fundraising requires a […]

I remember sitting in the village hall back in ’98, watching a neighbor lose his temper and shout about “the principle of the thing” during a heated meeting about the old mill conversion. He thought his outrage was enough, but all he did was give the planning officer a reason to stop listening. Most people […]

I was sitting in the back room of the Old Post Office last Tuesday—a fine little flint building dating back to the mid-1800s, mind you—trying to upload a simple photo of the parish council minutes. The spinning circle on the screen just kept turning, mocking me, while the rain lashed against the window. It’s a […]

I saw a flyer in the village hall last Tuesday for a “Wellness Trekking Initiative,” complete with high-vis vests and a spreadsheet for tracking heart rates. Honestly, it made me roll my eyes so hard I nearly lost my spectacles. You don’t need a mountain of expensive gear or a degree in kinesiology to figure […]

I remember sitting in the village hall back in ’94—the one with the draughty sash windows that haven’t been properly sealed since the late seventies—watching a committee try to plan a social gathering. They were obsessed with hiring professional caterers and sourcing linen tablecloths, as if a bit of fancy starch would somehow make people […]

I remember standing in the middle of the village green last autumn, watching a young fellow from the next parish try to run a local market using a fancy new smartphone app and a stack of glossy, laminated flyers. He spent more on the marketing than he did on the actual site hire, and by […]

I was sitting in the village hall last Tuesday, looking at a stack of notices that were so dry they practically crumbled in my hands. It struck me then that most people only pick up a community circular when they’re looking for a lost cat or a planning permission warning, which is a crying shame. […]

I remember sitting in the back of the St. Jude’s Parish Hall back in ’94—a building, I should note, constructed in 1872 with a roof that’s seen better days—watching a committee try to orchestrate a fundraiser that felt more like a military drill than a social evening. They had spent a small fortune on fancy […]

I saw a flyer the other day from some well-meaning charity suggesting that supporting elderly neighbours requires a dedicated volunteer schedule and a formalised system of check-ins. It’s absolute nonsense. If you wait for a committee meeting to decide how to help, the frost will have already settled on the windows and the milk will […]

I was sitting in the village hall last Tuesday, staring at a broken Grundig radio from 1974, when it hit me how much nonsense is floating around the internet regarding how to start a repair cafe. You’ll see all sorts of glossy, high-concept guides telling you that you need a dedicated community organiser, a complex […]