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A Southerly Aspect: January 2008
If there’s one thing that’s stirred up more conversation than anything else in the past year since I took up my post with the Southern Uplands Partnership as a ‘Community Animator’, it would have to be my title!
‘One who gives new spirit and life to’* was not a phrase which featured in my job description, nor do I claim to live up to that awesome task, but it’s a phrase to which I return often in an attempt to reassess myself and my role in the light of progress.
In that year I’ve also managed to coin my own phraseology, which I think describes the work that I do. I ‘animate local people into action’, if you like, stir up activism and try to help communities to discover and realise their potential. However, my work with the Communities on the Edge project has been every bit as much about a process of self discovery and personal growth than anything else, and I look forward to reflecting on my journey with you in the coming months.
For those who are unfamiliar with the COTE project, you can find out more here.
‘Awareness’ has been a key theme for me recently. Self-awareness, the awareness of others around me, peoples varying perceptions and misconceptions. I’ve also become aware of the way I see the community in which I live and have begun to understand the way others view that same community. It’s been a hugely rewarding and challenging time. The challenge, I suppose, lies in the question ‘So what do I do with this new awareness?’
I’ve always been a firm believer in a positive attitude. It’s such a productive energy and can overcome the most daunting of hurdles. And when that’s combined with a passion for place, an appreciation of all that is good about a community, the results can be overwhelming. I recently had the privilege of visiting The CatStrand, a community facility in New Galloway created by the people of the Glenkens Community and Arts Trust. Their magnificent building is a living, breathing space, which is testimony to the hard work, enthusiasm and positive energy of one small community.
Back home in Douglas, South Lanarkshire, Communities on the Edge promotes an asset based approach to rural community development. It’s a process, which challenges traditional needs-based models of rural development, but it also challenges communities to appreciate the uniqueness and diversity of their own place. It’s a process which resists getting caught up in identifying needs and creating wish lists, but emphasises the good things about an area around which people can come together to develop ways in which to build on the assets in order to sustain and enhance them for future generations.
More and more, I see my job as enabling local people to see their communities in a different light, in an alternative way. The transformational effect that different ways of looking at things can have has impacted on me greatly over the past year. It’s now my turn to help others have that opportunity.
Perhaps ‘one who gives new spirit and life to’ isn’t so far off the mark after all . . .
*Anne Hope and Sally Timmel, ‘Training for Transformation’, ITDG, 1984
Photos courtesy of Sarah Peters.
Copyright John Gold 2008
- Source
- Rural Gateway Correspondent
- Date
- 23-Jan-2008
- Categories
- COMMUNITIES, South Scotland, News - General
by 2 users.Hi Sarah, Donald and Phil. Thanks to you all for your comments.
Doanld, I certailnly hope to be able to tell you more about my daily work in future articles. I'm reluctant to give too much away early on in fear that I run out of things to say! There's a host of learning which we've accrued in the initial year of this phase of the project. There are definitely highs and lows, and it's certainly about more than meetings. Relationship building and dialogue is central to(and I believe vital to the success of) what we do.
Phil, one of the specific projects which relates to your questions is the Langholm Producers Market. 'The Muckle Toon Producer's Market' is held on the first Saturday of every month and attracts a significant number of visitors to the town. The economic spin offs of that have been quite unbelievable. As well as direct benefits to the producers who sell at the market, we've also recorded significant extra trading in local shops, hotels and restaurants on market days. A number of the small-scale producers have made the transition from hobby to business, with at least one currently setting up a larger scale comercial operation. The food sold at the market is as local as possible and many producers now make regular deliveries to the town as a result of contacts made at the market.
It's difficult to attribute the success of the venture though. The five local women who set up the market with our support have worked tirelessly. There's also been the support of other agencies. But perhaps most importantly, there's been the 'Langholm Effect' - growing your own local market is key to the sustainability of these initatives and local support is essential.
Recently, a new deli selling locally sourced foods and supplied by many of the market producers has opened in the town, but how much of that is down to the market itself isn't easy to ascertain.
I hope that answers some of your questions!
John
24-Jan-2008 @ 11:44AM
Phil Olson
Thanks John - it interesting to hear from the south.
Do you note economic or social changes emanating from single point developments. Like, we hear lots about the Seven Stanes and the enormous increase in visitor numbers that has brought. Can you identify wider changes this may have created - positive or negative?
24-Jan-2008 @ 08:57AM
Donald McPhillimy
Thanks for a nice little intro to what you do and it's especially good to hear about initiatives in the south of Scotland when so much seems to happen in the north. What would be really interesting would be 'a day in the life of' about how you approach a new project, meeting people, encouraging them, helpingto make it happen, nuts and bolts, success and frustrations, tell it like it is. Is it just about meetings or is it more than that ?
22-Jan-2008 @ 22:12PM
Sarah Peters
Really interesting to hear your personal point of view on working and living in a rural community. Look forward to hearing more.
Great job!
29-Jan-2008 @ 13:54PM
Derek Douglas
I am excited to see someone making use of the outstanding resource: Training for Transformation: A Handbook for Community Workers. These guides are imbued with the spirit of Paulo Freire and advocate participatory methods. Good luck in your work back in the home land.