Community
9 February 2007 Christine Gill
I was 6 during the miners’ strike of 1984. I lived in a small mining village
I guess the strike probably affected me differently than it did my friends, whose dads worked in the mines. My father had been unemployed my whole life anyway.
It was one of the happiest times of my childhood.
Weird, but i really do think back upon it fondly. I laugh at people who get rich and famous and then talk about how wonderful it was when they had nothing and “By ‘Eck, we lived on Mouldy bread and Cloudy Water and we had a sweater between the 6 of us and those were the Days! Ahh Yes!” That’s just stupid. Ooh yeah, having money is such a hardship, isn’t it?
And I know that If I was to go back to 1984 as an adult, I would see the hardship and suffering, families who used to be able to eat well now living on handouts etc, etc. For me, my family had never had money anyway, and we had a neighbour who stole some coal for us on a regular basis, and a forest full of trees to burn.
People’s gardens were full of potatoes and carrots instead of weeds and everyone helped each other out. It was one year that was different from all the others. There were marches through the village, everyone dressing up in silly outfits. My sisters were Martini girls. Black and white outfits, roller skates, and a bottle and glass glued to a tin tray. I was a clown. I was always a clown. I wanted to be Boy George, like my Cousin Donna was.
So everyone in the village would get up and march through the village from the tiniest to the very old and ancient people. There was no “Young people do this and oldies do this and teens do this” we all did it together.
And we marched up to the football field and there were games. Fancy Costumes were judged, races were run- middle aged men holding up their fancy long dresses to try to run faster…
People sold their veggies, and old vases and anything else they could find.
The town jazz band marched around the field with their big tin kazoos blowing (i used to call them gazoots) and we stayed there on that field all day long, It was the middle of summer but I remember dancing and laughing going on till well after dark. And everyone knew each other and the kids got to feel just as important as the grown ups because we were there for it all. And then in 1985, the strike ended and my family stayed inside our four walls, same as we always had done before the strike started, and they’ve been there since.
The kids went back to doing their thing and the adults went back to doing their thing and my little village has never known that community since.
And it is sad.
I like community. I do not like segregation. Little ones do this and bigger ones to this and biggest ones do this, maybe it’s just me, but I do not like it. I like family, not just flesh and blood family but everyone around you type family.
Can this kind of community be built without the hardships like those of the Miners’ Strike? Do we have the oomph to create such a thing?
We shall end with a song, which sounds jolly, but is sad. To especially go along with how I just made the 1984 Miners’ strike sound like fun. You be sure to sing along now.
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tags: community,
humans
Things being said about Community
On 9 February 2007 Gill wrote:
I love this blog, you tell the story so well. love the pictures too.
Can we create this kind of community spirit at i61?
I think its already happening!
On 9 February 2007 christine wrote:
the guy holding the marow is my uncle. the guy holding the pipe is my other uncle.
On 9 February 2007 christine wrote:
I think it is already happening too. I believe it will get bigger, as well as being relevant to the community, we will be the community, Yes?
anyone?
On 9 February 2007 Beth wrote:
I loved that Christine, you have such a gift for storytelling.
And it was such a bitter/sweet story too.
I enjoyed last night sitting around chatting. It felt easy.
On 10 February 2007 iona wrote:
I think i61 already has community. Younger people aren’t separated from the older ones and it makes it feel more like a family in a way. I enjoy it when it’s just people my age, but i also really enjoy it on Sundays when there are people of all ages. I think that in a community it is important to feel welcomed and part of something, and in i61 i definately feel this, it’s great!!
On 10 February 2007 christine wrote:
Fantastic! Thank you Iona :) Fank you Befny :)
On 10 February 2007 Gill wrote:
yes fantastic!
On 10 February 2007 MargieH wrote:
Thanks for sharing your story and the photos! Lord bless your lives and your work. (We were all quite impressed with the book, by the way.)
On 10 February 2007 steve wrote:
i lIKE THIS, LET’S TALK AGAIN
On 12 February 2007 Beth wrote:
Also, that’s a cracking song you picked there. I never realised it was sad you know, until you pointed it out!
On 12 February 2007 Jeff Gill wrote:
Which book was that, Margie? The Art of Thinking Sideways ?
(Thanks for posting!)
On 16 February 2007 Sonya Armstrong wrote:
I enjoyed reading your memories =-) We’ve been part of our new church since close to it’s beginning and are involved and it’s good. i wish we lived closer to the people we are growing and serving alongside so it wouldn’t be as hard to get together, especially with school schedules etc. and life duties…it takes extra effort but is worth it.
I wish I had the sense of community to talk about when I first became a parent and had no one around me that I knew; a recurring theme in my life having moved around. Slowly that’s changed, but sometimes change takes a long time and requires a lot of patience, eh?
Anyway, this is long for a response, huh?! Thanks for sharing again; I enjoyed reading it. You and Gill sound like you have a great thing growing and it’s inspiring “seeing” you working together.