Village life in danger?

The 'splash' in Kersey, with St Mary's Church in the background.

We are now well into the season of Annual Parish Meetings, with one or two every week, and sometimes two on one night!

There are 18 Parishes in the Cosford Division so this keeps me quite busy.  On Monday I went to a well-attended Annual Parish Meeting at Kersey.  Many of the multiplicity of village organisations sent representatives and reports, and their number is a credit to what is, after all, not a huge community.  According to the Babergh Year Book the population in 2012 numbered 348.

Some 16 separate village groups were listed on the agenda (Including the wonderfully named Franey Rand and Pest House charities.)  This reflects the fact that Kersey is a very community minded place with a great deal going on.

However, in common with most of the villages I represent, Kersey has a problem.  Too few people are now prepared to get involved with helping to run village organisations.  This means that the burden falls on just a few, and the few are getting older.  

The message from every group was the same: ‘unless new people come forward to help the future of this organisation is under threat’.  The warning was particularly stark from the Church.  Like other churches Kersey's has put in a kitchen and toilet facilities which means that the building can be used for a broader range of activities.  However, without warm bodies to do the work,  raise money and take the life of the church forward, the outlook for its preservation and conservation is bleak.

St Mary’s Church stands high and proud at the top of The Street.  It is a landmark from several miles distant, and a diminishing group of volunteers means that its bells still ring out on most Sunday mornings.  Were it to close for lack of support  the village would lose a key to its identity, and one vital source of its community spirit

Of course some of the very pretty cottages in the village are not occupied full time and the prevalence of weekenders is often blamed for the decline in village life. This is not necessarily so.  One of my villages now has its Parish council meetings on a Saturday morning because most of the councillors work away during the week.  They are, none the less, dedicated to the life of the village, which they clearly regard as home.

It is difficult to know what can be done.   You cannot force people to participate in village activities, particularly if they believe that if they take something on then they might be stuck with it indefinitely.  It would be interesting to research the problem more closely: to look at the demography of the village, the number of cottages that are not occupied much of the time, the number of ‘newly retired’  who are unengaged (often a rich seam to mine for new recruits).   Perhaps this could be done by the returning Parish Council in May, provided that the already overburdened members can find the time!