Since moving to Leamington a couple of months ago (it feels a lot longer!) I've been thrilled to discover some of the community initiatives going on here, and start to get involved...
Canalside Community Food, the community supported agriculture scheme, which I wrote about in a post last month.
Leamington LETS, or Local Exchange and Trading System, which enables local people to exchange time and skills.
Transition Town Leamington (TTL), an initiative to become more self-sufficient as a local community in order to meet the challenge of Peak Oil. See more about transition towns here. I just read the TTL newsletter and looked up a mention of a video on how Cuba survived Peak Oil. Recommended viewing!
I find these initiatives inspiring. I'm not in favour of trying to escape or go back to some kind of past way of doing things. We're where we are - as humanity - for a reason, and we have to go "through the eye of the needle" to learn from it, hopefully evolve, and find a new way forward. What I find inspiring about these initiatives is that they're all about community, finding a way forward together, and becoming more self-reliant - a quality generally so lacking in our current society.
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Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteHow do Leamington score in the Community league report published today http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7755641.stm?
Mark
Hi Mark,
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. "Coventry & Warwickshire" scores 27-29 which is fairly high on the "loneliness" index.
However, the way this number is arrived at is apparently: "a formula based on the proportion of people in an area who are single, those who live alone, the numbers in private rented accommodation and those who have lived there for less than a year". Well, I tick all those boxes (LOL!) and I feel already a part of the local community. I guess it's subjective and we get out what we put in.
I was really struck when a couple of days after I moved in a couple of my neighbours came round to introduce themselves, and another even dropped a card through the letterbox to welcome me and apologize for not being around to come over and say "hello"! That really took me aback after living in a flat in London where I barely saw my neighbours. Often it's these "little" things that make all the difference... :-)
Elizabeth