Our village pub is closed, again, and there seems to be little prospect of it re-opening any time soon. The Church is struggling with a tiny congregation and a huge financial burden to overcome following the dry rot problem. The WiG Players, once a hugely successful enterprise for such a tinny community, has folded, having failed to recruit younger members. We lost our shop many years ago. What is left?
We used to have a social committee which worked energetically on behalf of the village,but this seems to have collapsed. In just over a month the rest of the country will be celebrating the Queen‘s Platinum Jubilee, which, whatever your views on the monarchy, is an obvious opportunity for every small community to enjoy a jolly good party.
The purpose of this post is twofold: first, I have written it in the vain hope that it might be the stimulus to make something happen over the Jubilee period. But I don’t see this happening.
Why not? And this brings me to my second point. Nobody will read this post. If I printed it out and pinned it to the village notice board, nobody would read it. It is deliberately provocative in the hope that I am proved wrong, but I would put good money on it that, in a year‘s time, there will not be single response.
If we are to have any chance of reviving what used to be an exceptional community spirit in this village, we need to improve our communications. It is no good relying on people to go looking for information: the information needs to be presented to them. They (we!) don‘t look at noticeboards, and they don’t look at this website.
An email database exists, in the custody of the Parish Council, which, while out of date, is at least a starting point. It needs updating, to remove those who, for one reason or another, are no longer with us, but when that is done the PC could contact the community they represent so much more effectively than at present. Other organisations, and even individuals, could use it to get messages through to WiG residents, subject to approval from a designated PC monitor.
I sincerely hope this post will engender a flood of explanations as to why it would be impossible: privacy legislation, the need for PC monitoring, and other reasons I haven’t even thought of. But I bet there won’t be a single response m poi
Prove me wrong!
Dave Lewis
lewis@dairy.me.uk
It was good to see so many people attending the meeting yesterday and especially showing some interest . Tea , coffee and biscuits good idea afterwards. looking forward to hearing the valuation on the pub etc Keep the momentum!! Marion Howard
Well done, David, at last night’s Village Meeting. Very telling comments from you. Let’s see what developes.
re. the Stoke St Gregory renaissance, they have a good advantage over WiG, apart from size. They are 7 miles from large shops, down windy lanes whereas we are just 2 miles from reasonable shops on decent roads, so there is a built-in demand for a shop and pub.
You’re right on the White Hart, it was a huge plus when I was looking for a home in the 1990’s, a good social centre but, sadly, it declined over the years.
Hope springs eternal.
John
Good to hear from you, Marion, but also rather surprising. The only other post on the Forum was also from me, last July - 10 months ago. It was deliberately provocative, partly in the hope of getting the forum off to a good start, but also to assess whether people actually looked at the website. The only reply in all that time is from Dav Baulch, who created the website and obviously has an interest.
My point is that communication Is fundamentally important in sustaining a lively community. Much of the social life of the village, in its heyday, emanated from the White Hart, but that is now closed. I have campaigned for some time for the a pro-active Forum, through the medium of email. In other words, sending information to villagers rather than hoping they will go looking for it. Because they don’t!
A database exists, but of course there is a snag in the shape of privacy legislation. But this is not insoluble: it just needs those on the database to give their consent to its use. It could then be used for Parish Council, social committee (if it ever revives), and other groups to get their messages through to the community.
Let‘s see if anyone else responds.
Best wishes
Dave
PS: I understand (from a national website, not from a village source) that there will be a beacon lit for the Jubilee at Weston Lodge Shooting Ground. It may be that there are plans to publicise this nearer the event, but just putting an announcement on the PC website won’t have much effect!
Hello Dave , I hear and feel your disappointment of the loss of village community life . The needs and values of society have changed. A lot has been lost 😠 I have been a volunteer for a large organisation for 16 years and the changes are not always welcome. To improve or implement positive steps you need like minded people to work together . I could not be a leader too old but a helper. I have lived alone in the village for five years. In that time have engaged with the church, attended two social events,parish council meetings . Therefore now know a FEW faces. The ROAD is difficult to get around the village very vulnerable even going to postbox! 20 miles an hour is a joke . I believe most villagers will celebrate the Jubilee with family and friends in a street party or park . I may put up a couple of flags in the garden !!! Kind Regards Marion