The Spirit of Community
Once upon a time people believed that "love thy neighbour" was a valid phrase.
They would do things for one another
and be as nice to their neighbours as they were to family. Through great
wars people would rally together and cheer each other up.
Tragically,
community, as it was known, died.
People started killing thy neighbour
instead of loving and all that was left of "community" was it's spirit, a mere
ghost of what was.
Well anyway, enough of the fairy tales, what I mean
is people should still be helping each other and looking after their community.
Residents and Friends of Swindon lend me your pigs ears!
Ok, so the name "Swindon" actually
came from "swine town", but does that mean that this little town of ours has to
look like a pigsty?
We plan to for a gardening 'hit squad' called The Friends
of Swindon.
We are looking for gardeners without gardens, people
with time to spare and maybe some redundant Newbury protestors.
An example of
a project would be to weed and landscape the Mannington roundabout into a low
maintenance rockery that Swindon could be proud of, in collaboration with the
Swindon Highways Commission.
Examples of other projects would be helping to
plant bulbs, flowers and trees, and to tidy, weed, landscape public lands i.e.
roundabouts, roadside verges and even the gypsy landsite.
Many things in
Swindon are only done because of sponsorship from companies. But don't you think
it's time Swindonians took the initiative and did something for themselves
instead of relying on the council and companies to provide it for
them.
Another little known fact is that the more litter
there is, the more people litter! :-(
So one way to stop people littering is
to pick up the litter!
I do it for my street every fortnight or so using a
'Handi Reacher' and a plastic bag. I generally collect a full Sainsbury's carrier bag after the
rubbish has been collected on Mondays, and it really makes a
difference.
People don't empty out cigarette butts from Car ash trays
anymore.
It's not as tiring as you would expect and people don't laugh but
rather strike up a conversation.
So if you're bored, lonely and would like
to get to know your neighbours, why not get a 'Handi Reacher' and clean up your
street!
Kleneze sell a 'Handi-Reacher'. Buy it direct on the web from Smith &
Nephew Health or from your local Kleneze
distributor.
It costs £9.99 (cheaper from Smith & Nephew), the code is 27618 on page 95 of the Kleneze
catalogue.
Call 08703 336688 for details of the nearest Kleneze distributor
to you.
Old Town's local Kleneze distributor is Peter Locke,
1 South street and he will deliver elsewhere in Swindon.
Tel. no.
495238.
If you are interested in Friends of Swindon and would like to join, fill out the form below or email me
Regards,