The media is full of complaints at the moment about how the government , rail companies and various other large bodies have failed to get their act together during this period of snowy weather.
It is of course a pity that planning for the extraordinary does not seem to be very well developed in the UK, despite all the risk assessments etc. that we routinely carry out to try to pre-empt these very problems.
However, even when things return to normal we are going to have to accept that as far as government, national or local is concerned many things that we have taken for granted are no longer going to be available. (Given the state of government finances debateable how many were actually affordable in any event!)
We are facing a time when we will have to lower our expectations with regard to what government is able to do for us and fall back on our own resources, whether it be increasing fund raising activities and trying to give a bit more to good causes, trying to spend less to made provision for contingencies, and looking out for our friends and neighbours. In the current snowy weather, at a trivial level and health and safety permitting, we might think about doing what is generally done routinely in Europe and clear the snow from the area outside our homes. As Melanie Reid writes in the Times on Saturday, there are many who continue to firmly believe that this is the job of the local council and nothing to do with them. This is an attitude that has to change.
In this connection I was last week contacted by a resident of Great Waldingfield concerned that the elderly and disabled have been having difficulties getting out for provisions etc. He points to the fact that in the winter of 1963 a scheme was in place under which volunteers were on hand to help, each elderly person being given contact numbers of two people to call in the case of need.
No such scheme exists now, but I have ascertained that members of the Church have been checking up on many residents in an informal way, and I am not aware of anyone who is experiencing difficulties. I am sure that everyone is keeping an eye out for their neighbours but please let me know if anyone needs additional help and I will see what can be done.
Some months ago now I wrote on the blog about how I had been researching Good Neighbour Schemes that have been set up in Long Melford and Glemsford, mainly with a view to seeing how these organisations might help people with internet access to access council services on line. No such schemes currently exist in Waldingfield Ward, but it has occurred to me that as formal help from government bodies falls and charities become more and more stretched, the time may be right to look at the idea.
I have already had some expressions of interest and have effected an introduction with Suffolk Acre who support such schemes. Many may think that a less formal approach to good neighbourliness is more appropriate, but I think something more organised could at least be considered.
