Category: Community

I remember standing in the drafty vestibule of the St. Jude’s hall back in ’94, clutching a damp clipboard and wondering why the booking ledger looked like it had been through a hedge backwards. People seem to think that figuring out how to book a village hall requires a degree in civil engineering or a […]

I sat in the village hall last Tuesday, listening to a consultant drone on about “strategic community governance” and “multi-agency infrastructure frameworks,” and I nearly fell asleep in my chair. It’s a load of nonsense. People often ask me, what does a parish council do, expecting some grand, high-level political explanation, but the truth is […]

I saw a flyer the other day for a security firm promising “total peace of mind” through a suite of smart cameras and motion-sensor floodlights that cost more than a decent set of draught excluders. It’s all a bit much, isn’t it? People seem to think that learning how to set up a neighbourhood watch […]

I was sitting in the village shop the other morning, watching the clock tick past ten, when I realised how many of us have suddenly found ourselves with a surplus of time and a bit too much quiet in the house. It’s a strange thing, moving from forty years of measuring rafters and checking damp […]

I remember standing in the middle of the village green back in ’94, watching a committee spend three hours debating the exact shade of bunting for the marquee while the tea urn sat unpowered and the raffle prizes gathered dust in a damp garage. People think learning how to organise a village fete is about […]

I was sitting in the village hall last Tuesday, watching a young man from the district council try to explain that setting up a local collective required a three-year strategic plan and a formal committee structure. It was nonsense, plain and simple. If you’re sitting there wondering how to start a community group just because […]