Up and down the country small communities are developing innovative initiatives to better the quality of life at home. Last night we heard of community oil buying clubs, local wind turbines that offset local electricity charges, after school groups and the like and out of the discussion came the firm decision that Trelawnyd requires it's own community Association .
The initiative has been spearheaded by Ian Papworth, who lives down our lane and after he had gardened support around the village a preliminary meeting took place in the village Hall last night.
Around twenty five villagers attended the meeting and it was encouraging to see a lot of younger faces alongside the usual old pongos like myself in the hall.
The gist of the meeting was to discuss the need of such an association-a group that could compliment the work of the formal community council and individual enterprises such as The Friendship and Conservation groups..and from the get go there was a general consensus that communities like Trelawnyd are at risk of becoming faceless housing estates in the country, estates without a heart..a centre if something was not done.
A brain storming exercise threw up a myriad of ideas.
A woman's Institute branch, craft group, kids group, film nights, theatre group, village meal, conservation initiatives, social activities, litter picking and that was in just ten minutes.
It was all very encouraging.
There was a lot of bright thinking and expertise that could be shared
Eight or so residents volunteered to sit on a committee to further develop the association and calls are now being sent out again for ideas from Trelawnyd-ites who couldn't go to last night's meeting to contribute to the discussion
This is the reason for my post today.
So I am passing on Ian's contact to the village again. If you are interested in being part of the new Association , or if you have any ideas to support it please contact Ian directly on the above email. Alternatively you can let me know what you think and I can pass information on to Ian personally.
together you ALL can make a difference!
ReplyDeleteIt felt a bit like that last night
DeleteGood luck to Trelawnyd. My wife set up a new Women's Institute group here at Banner Cross in Sheffield and it is now thriving - enriching the lives of over sixty women with a waiting list too. All it takes is one or two determined women to get the WI ball rolling.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that YP one young woman wanted to start a WI
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ReplyDeleteAuntie Glad will live on in various forms.
ReplyDeleteNicely put Andrew
DeleteOne of the things that killed off small town America was the loss of small local businesses. Do everything you can to keep the local shops and encourage new one's to open and thrive.
ReplyDeleteOur shop has shut David as has our post office
DeleteBrilliant, I wish you all lots of luck with it. Together you can keep Trelawnyd the lovely little village that it is.
ReplyDeleteI'll keep you all posted x
DeleteMore can be accomplished when people work together for the common good. However, there will always be those who disagree, and then there are fireworks.
ReplyDeleteOh yes.......I'll keep stumn about that
DeleteWhat a great idea. If anyone can pull it off, Trelawnyd can.
ReplyDeleteWe can try
DeleteIn our last village we had an oil club. Unfortunately the person who bought it wasnt good at haggling we found it cheaper just going straight ourselves. I am a member of the film club here and it is worth it. it costs less than £20 a year and you take your own snacks. The best thing by far that my old village used to do, was in the village hall, once a month they had a coffee morning on a SATURDAY! everyone seems to think that a coffee morning should be in the week. you cut off every person who is employed from attending if they work monday-friday. At this coffee morning, they usually had a cooking class that you could watch or just natter in the next room. at the end you could buy the food from the cooking class, the money raised from it all went to the village projects. The last month we were there we had the most amazing Thai food, outside of Thailand. it was great.
ReplyDeleteforgot to say in our last village there wasnt a shop or a cafe or anything. just the church and the village hall
DeleteI get the best deals on oil myself. Oil clubs are not what they are thought to be. They just keep people happy because they think they are being clever and the oil companies sweet talk them into believing it.
DeleteYes Rachel, I think you are right about the sweet talking. The person who used to do it, seemed to only ring 2 places. We rang 5. sometimes you have to check for yourself.
DeleteI am actively involved in village life although we are spread over 10 sq km across fields. Most of the things I am involved in are history and music groups. I opted not to join the oil group when I was introduced to it when I found their pricing was no better than mine and I found the man coming round with the clipboard asking about oil usage and my order dates and history rather intrusive,
DeleteI think the film night is a go! And a good idea......
DeleteI shall watch with interest, our village is also coming together slowly. We need a divide between church and village but there are people for both sides. A newsletter is good for informing, history and gardening are another two to add to the list.
ReplyDeleteA newsletter was mentioned in our discussion too
DeleteJohn for President of Trelawnyd with Winnie as your first lady what could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteLX
I'm more a supporter of this venture rather than a leader x
Deleteinterestingly, the Economic council here in this little town (less than 9,000 I think, smaller than when we moved here) put out a survey wanting to know what residents thought and how to make the town better. it's all bullshit as nothing will be done until they break the stranglehold the four or five founding families have on this town. it would be an entire blog post to list what's wrong here. the last question was what would you like to be able to say about Wharton. my answer was I would like to be able to stop telling people that Wharton is a mean little town.
ReplyDeleteNot that sounds like the movie The Hatfields and the McCoys
DeleteMy village has less than a third of the population of Trelawnyd and has an active Village Hall Committee. Films nights once on month fro Sept to June, an annual quiz night, a summer fete, winter party (with snow machines), a monthly Lunch club which attracts people from surrounding villages, a choir, a weekly art club, an annual wine tasting, an annual Race Night...to name a few. We also had a McMillan coffee morning and raised nearly £700. It takes a few people who are keen and prepared to put in the time.
ReplyDeleteNow there are a few ideas to run with....thank you
DeleteI would start with a survey of the people interested. What can they do? Grasscuts, shopping, dog walking... Then ask what they need help with....kind of a barter/co op program. Older people can cook, babysit, dog sit. Younger people can do a little more of the heavy lifting? needs and wants.
ReplyDeleteI'm liking these suggestions thank you
DeleteLovely idea John, I thoroughly endorse your endeavours. Here in our little town the U3A is very popular and there are lots of courses to join - all taught my volunteers who have come into the commenity with a lot of expertise. They do afternoons for the over sixties, volunteers cook lunches on Tuesdays, there are exercise classes, gardening classes, every Friday night a film is shown - and not an old one, a recent one.
ReplyDeleteVarious music classes, computer classes, the list is endless. Might be worth considering.
We need you to live here weave x
DeleteRegarding your post about your bladder problem there is a bottle that you can buy with both a male and female adaptor. Brilliant to keep in your car for when you have the urge to "go"
ReplyDeleteFor obvious reasons it's much easier for a man to use it from a seated position, you just need a towel or small blanket to put over your knees too, if you're somewhere which could be visible to people passing by.
My willy is too small for those kind of things x
DeleteThey're "one size" to fit all sizes!
DeleteMuch in the same way that hospital ones are.
Sadly the villages around here are just doomed, all the "kids" are people between 45 to 59, the adults are 80+! This spring community centers were in the local paper begging for volunteers.
ReplyDeleteI was reassured at the meeting that half were younger characters one lass was breastfeeding her baby! Great stuff
DeleteBeing involved with the new Repair Cafe in our town it's what builds stronger communities...the coming together of people.
ReplyDeleteArilx
Tell me more about your cafe?
DeleteWe meet once a month and have volunteers who help and teach people how to mend bikes, electrical items, clothing and electronic things . There's an Ecover refill station and always free drinks and cakes. I'm there encouraging people to recycle and answer some of their questions. We've recently teamed up with the Men in Sheds initiative too. Great way of making new connections and building community links. http://www.horshamrepaircafe.org.uk/
DeleteAll from one Church here a coffee shop,laughing yoga,outings,discussions,plant sales,garage sale throughout the village on a set day are a few x
ReplyDeleteWe do have quite a few things already but they need publicising
DeleteCommunity spirit is alive and well in Trelawnyd. A good many places could take a lesson!
ReplyDeleteAnd we need a lesson too
DeleteThis is truly lovely to read. 'Community' is a truly precious resource. A resource which, like so many others, is in danger.
ReplyDeleteX
DeleteIn my village we have a Women's Institute branch, art club, indoor bowls club, craft club, youth group, Brownies, coffee mornings, quiz nights, dances, a history group, summer and Christmas fairs, a philosophy group, keep fit group. Wow I didn’t think we had much going on but that’s quite an impressive list! I would also like to start a film night. Good luck with your group.
ReplyDeleteTell me more about your philosophy group
DeleteOur local library was due to close but was saved by a group of volunteers who run it. They created a community hub where events can take place outside library hours. I run 2 music groups, there are writing groups, knitting and art and crafts as well as local history and meet ups for folk who are feeling isolated. It can be very successful.
ReplyDeleteThank you deb
DeleteMy little village was just 500 people when I moved in and is now a veritable metropolis of about 700! They have, however, a very strong sense of village life and I have always been impressed at how they try to keep the village going. I attribute this to being in France but it might just be my little village as opposed to other areas. Oh and it looks like I might be about to become the Présidente of our local sewing club as from September - which is a hoot since I sincerely can't sew (but am willing to do the administrative stuff). More community spirit is what we all need though isn't it? Anna
ReplyDeleteTrelawnyd is perhaps 300 people ?
DeleteAccording to the census in 2011 it was 820.
DeleteThat's such a great idea. We have a large Anglican church in our town that has very good programming. Monday nights, there is a kids cooking class in the kitchen and woodworking club with around 60 members and a language club(Italian the last 6 months). It has a real vibrancy and all ages are included. It's good to see.
ReplyDeleteOur church is somewhat quieter
DeleteI've been in a couple of these, when I was much younger. A group I helped found still meets and works. In the last thirty years I've seen it turn over every time it needs to be younger. It's all very pleasing.
ReplyDeleteI am encouraged by all of these comments ta muchly
DeleteWe are so lucky in our village, admittedly we are quite large but there's a good mix of old families and newbies (myself) and loads of community spirit. We have two churches, two community centres, a sports club and five pubs as well of a plethora of doing stuff such as Britain in Bloom, Friends of the railway station, conservation group, walking groups, cycling groups, choirs, WI, various craft groups (including knit and natter yarn bombers, Scouts and Guide groups, Coffee day committees, festivity committee, open garden day committee, Christmas tree fair, pop up café, quizzes, bingo, boules and we have a village facebook page which was a god send when the village flooded in 2015 and we even have a village charter. Keeping community going in rural communities can be difficult when many of the established meeting places have gone but I think your village has taken a great step by acknowledging this and saying 'Bugger that for a game of soldiers'. Go for it! and good luck.
ReplyDeleteI think your village has taken a great step by acknowledging this and saying 'Bugger that for a game of soldiers'. Go for it! and good luck.สมัคร D2BET
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