This week I saw images online of a wonderful creative display in a Midlands town to mark Remembrance Day. Local crafters came together to yarn bomb the high street, crocheting poppy themed toppers for the postboxes and making a large fabric collage scene as a wall hanging. Creativity at its best – enhancing the community while drawing people together.
So community is alive and well – and art & craft have a large contribution to make here.
What could be a clearer sign of ageing than starting to compare life now with life back in the day?! I may be only just into middle age, but it’s happening already. And what stands out is the loss of so many amenities central to local communities. When I was a child during the 1980s, village shops and pubs were a given. So too were milkmen, fairly regular buses and a mobile library. Towns would have a wide variety of shops and banks. Village shops were the first to go – many closed during the 90s, being converted to houses. On into the new millenium, the loss of amenities has been gradual but relentless, and only accelerated by Covid. So it is that by 2024, it’s rare for a village to have a shop, or for a town to have any banks or a dedicated post office. Village and town pubs alike close all the time, local garages or petrol stations shut and are not replaced. Town centres struggle to fill shop units. Many villages have no scheduled buses, only perhaps a shuttle bus to book ahead.
Obviously community is not dependent on shops, pubs or any businesses. Community happens in all different ways. But local businesses were still far more than somewhere to buy bread or have a drink. They brought life and purpose to an area. Losing local amenities can be inconvenient but it can also be dispiriting and isolating, wherever you are.
Now new ways of being a community are emerging. The UK has 150 community-owned pubs, many of which also open as community shops and post offices. Community energy has for years enabled growing use of renewables in remoter areas most of all, and community land trusts have led the way with this and other initiatives in Scotland. Maybe these newer ideas will prove all the better.
Creativity too has a lot more to give.
Yarn bombing has only burst out of the shadows in the last few years – could it be a reaction to all that’s been lost? Decorating our streets has become ever more commonplace. Whether done by an individual or a group, yarn bombing is just a fantastic, colourful and imaginative way to brighten the everyday, and it’s a local talking point. As chain stores and individual shops alike close in towns and cities, leaving many shop units deserted, creativity could help. Displaying art and craft in empty shop windows or inviting groups to paint murals on the glass. Hosting pop up art or craft workshops in the unit, or a pottery painting cafe, or a repair cafe. Some places have already experimented with ideas like these. But community can start small too, with a single creative act. Making a Christmas card for a local care home is an idea I’m encouraging this year. Let me know if you give it a go. Creativity has “community” written all over it. Community looks very different now, but creativity is one way to reinvent how it might work. Do you agree? Have your say at https://www.facebook.com/groups/359291215486002
Medley 