Nobody wants to see cuts to services we value, but I do believe the tough times can actually present us with new opportunities to bring us closer together as a community.
With the backdrop of a slow recovery from the 2008 recession and the promise of more cuts to public spending, it is easy to despair at the proposed loss of local services we have come to value and the lack of funding for expanding or new initiatives in our community.
I’m relatively young still at 28 and the society I have grown up in to my mind hasn’t changed much, although admittedly there have been many changes in my lifetime.
When I moved to Eastleigh I discovered a sense of community that I hadn’t seen in my home town growing up or anywhere else I have lived or visited.
What have we lost as a community?
However even here when I speak to people a generation or two older than me, I often find they lament how we have lost something as a community, the days when they knew everyone in the street and enjoyed neighbourhood get-togethers.
I’m not saying it’s all dead and gone, far from it, but according to some studies we are less likely overall to know our neighbours or have strong friendships than people anywhere else in the EU. Admittedly some of it is down to cultural differences but even so it is another study adding fuel to the discussion of a loneliness epidemic in today’s society.
So what do local government cuts and neighbourhood get-togethers have in common?
Let’s create a common cause to bring people together
Times may have changed but there is nothing like a common cause or vision to bring a community of people together. The gaps left by both government and local councils although not ideal, do present us with an opportunity to think about how we really want to shape our community for the future.
What do we value? What are we passionate about?
What I hope to achieve with this post
My hope in writing this post is that we could start a conversation, share ideas amongst neighbours, friends, and families about the community we live in, and discuss how we as a community can fill the gaps left by funding and service cuts.
Perhaps it could be as simple as a street fundraiser to keep a Dial-A-Ride service we value running. Or perhaps like-minded people could start discussing how to develop a new youth project.
It all starts with someone sharing an idea or passion they have. Will you be the one to start the conversation?
(Chandler’s Ford Today Note: Dan Brain is Eastleigh South Conservative Candidate. Dan is also Chairman of Eastleigh Basics Bank.)
Let us not confuse community with services.
Chandler’s Ford community seems to be growing. Perhaps we should talk about communities because we all belong to several communities: Schools, clubs, pubs, friends, Facebook and Chandler’s Ford Today. The increase in coffee shops in Chandler’s Ford shows people meeting.
The community needs to extend into services a little more. How often do you suggest to a friend or neighbour that you car share for a trip to Asda or to Southampton? Could you share a school run, many do. You could arrange to share your lawn mower with a neighbour and maybe in return he could share his leaf blower with you.
Some of our memorable evenings have been when we have invited a lone traveller to share our table at dinner in a hotel. There is a resistance to sharing a table in a coffee shop or a restaurant, why?
That’s enough twittering for now.
Mike,
I like your idea of car share and item share – I’m sure many of us have done so to our close friends. The problem is that we don’t stretch far enough, to neighbours, or to acquaintance or new residents in our local area who may need help.
I have found that many people have a comfortable, self-sufficient community (church, drama / singing group, family, hobby, charity group) where they belong to. For those people who don’t belong to these ‘clubs’, for example those who have just moved into our community, or those who are more introverted, or who are unwell, or who come from a different culture, they can feel a deep sense of loneliness in this partially well-off and middle-class area.
I was a new-comer myself about 14 years ago to Chandler’s Ford, and experienced a long period of total isolation. It takes a new-comer a lot of courage to seek help, and some of them don’t – perhaps they are shy, or perhaps they don’t feel comfortable troubling other people. Perhaps there is a cultural barrier.
What we need is to spread kindness from one’s little comfortable community to others. Don’t say, “Let me know if you need help.” Sometimes we just need to give help to people even if they don’t ask (as they may be shy, lonely, unsure of the local culture / custom) for it, as we can always sense when someone needs help.
The sense of community that people knew a generation or two ago has indeed been lost and the progress of modern society means that it will never be regained. People used to be born, live, work, marry and die within an area that was probably a couple of miles square. Their aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc, either lived with them or very close by. Nowadays people move away for work and families can be scattered around the globe. Improved technology, communications and transport have made the world a much ‘smaller’ place.
However, it has led to people not knowing their neighbours which can lead to problems, dissension and bad-feeling between neighbours. Also loneliness and a feeling of being left-out. This can happen to people of any age and in any situation, especially if you’re new to an area and have no friends or family to talk to or meet up with. It would be fantastic to have more groups of people who could advertise for more members. There are so many people who could use a friend or a listening ear. I like Mike’s idea above. I wouldn’t like to be beholden to someone but maybe you could set up a barter system whereby Mr A needs a lift to the doctors once a week and he could offer some gardening in return. Mrs B can give him a lift but doesn’t need a gardener, however she could use a babysitter occasionally. Mrs C can babysit but has no time for gardening, etc. Perhaps you could start a list, Dan, of things people can offer and things they need? Some people can offer things but need nothing. Mr D might also go to the doctors regularly and might be happy to run Mr A there if they could coordinate their appointments, etc. More sharing and caring is desperately needed in our world today.
Maybe you could also start a discussion on loneliness? Or help? EG, you might say you would pay someone £10 to buy your weekly shopping and pack it away for you and have a cuppa and a chat afterwards. I’ll help if I can but it’s hard to find people who want to get involved.
White Wabbit,
I like your strong sense of community. However, I’m not quite sure of the ‘barter system’.
There have been a few websites in the UK offering skills / items swapping. I remember the Reverend Ian Fletcher told me of StreetBank – Share things with your neighbours. I think this site existed before Streetlife and StreetBank focuses more on giving / sharing.
I feel that I prefer ‘giving’ (and ‘receiving’) instead of exchanging. However, after giving and receiving, you’re more likely to get something back, as people would want to pay back your generosity.
Establishing a ‘formal’ barter system in itself is a form of trading. I would prefer genuine help and kindness to our neighbours, without having to have an exchange.
I don’t even think altruism has to be ‘fair’. If I give or share, it is because I want to and it is because I can, and it will make me feel good too.
This is a great start to the discussion with some really great ideas. They don’t have to be big projects or overly complicated just simple things can make a big difference to an individual or neighbourhood.
We are all very different yet there are many people around us who share a lot in common with us – it’s taking the initiative that’s often the most difficult part.
To one person being part of a running club is their community, for others sharing a similar cause or others it’s simply picking the daily paper up for a neighbour – there is a community for everyone but I do think we need more emphasis on the service/caring side.
I guess personally I tend to lean more towards service based projects – I enjoy the sense of achieving something worthwhile within the context of a team of like minded passionate people. I’m happy to pull a list of things people could offer to share or do for someone else.
Perhaps some research on Streetlife is called for 🙂 and people can keep adding their ideas here too and I’ll compile them into a future article. Keep conversing…