Full Circle

I started to write this post surrounded by towers of boxes, all ready for the removal men to load into the van in a few hours time. Over the last couple of days we have broken up packing with visiting local friends to say goodbye, and so it feels only right to use this space to reflect on the the last eight and a half years that we’ve spent in this neighbourhood, and share a few stories along the way.

We had a brilliant library in an old building that we loved. My mum, who was a library assistant elsewhere, said that it was exactly what a library should be. It was the hub of the community, with huge displays on the walls that local kids helped to paint. People of all ages would hang out there, teenagers did their homework, and there were sections of the library with books in different languages, to reflect the diversity in our community. It also had- as every good library has- a weekly tots time. Tots time consisted of singing the same songs several times over, reading some stories and lots of props. It was run by a totally mad librarian who was a law unto herself, but a lovable one nonetheless! Except this one time. My friend and I brought our two little ones along to tots time. They were both wearing bandana style dribble bibs, and said librarian commented that they looked like cowboys. All fine, until an Asian mother and baby walked in. The librarian was delighted and exclaimed: ‘it’s cowboys and Indians’. Goodness me, my friend and I looked at each other awkwardly and very embarrassed. I think she could sense it because she quickly tried to reassure us: ‘O no, it’s fine because I’m Indian too!’. ‘No’, retorted the mother, ‘We are from Pakistan’. Ooops!

A couple of years ago they tried to close the library down. We were all distraught and wrote our objections in the ‘Consultation’ box (though I’m not convinced these consultations make any difference), but to no avail. It is now closed and only used for voting on election days. They have, however, opened a new library further up the hill, that we share with the next neighbourhood along. It’s pretty fancy, with its own garden, but there are no more painted displays, so feels a bit soulless. However, I’ve had to eat a slice of humble pie because I have warmed to it, namely because touring theatre companies often use it. As a result, our little ones have been to see the most incredible productions and heard wonderful classical music performances, just for children, for £2 a head. Marvellous!

Another local hub here is the post office. It is run by a Muslim couple who are our local celebrities (apparently they were once on a national television programme). He is built like a brick house but his smile and warmth takes away any intimidation. She is so friendly and chatty that there is always a queue, but you don’t mind because you know you’re going to get a personalised service when you reach the counter! When we first moved in we heard whisperings that he was part of the local mafia and so I was always anxious if he let me off 10p because I didn’t have the correct change, as I didn’t want to be in his debt! However, as time has passed, I don’t think that this could possibly be true; Jon ended up tutoring their daughter for her maths GCSE and they were nothing but lovely (it probably helped that she was extremely intelligent and aced it!).

There are several key players who make up any community, and one of our favourite ones here is our local postie. She’s probably underrated by most, but I think she is a fabulous example of what a postie can be. She’s always very friendly, remembers what’s going on in our lives, and the children love to give her fresh cookies or cakes if they’ve been baking with me. We actually saw her as we were sitting in our jam packed car before we left, having a little cry. She gave me a hug and wished us well in Cornwall, and said she’ll miss the baked goods!

For many of the children in our local community, their key players will be the fantastic hippy-duo who lead music sessions, complete with shakers, scarves, lego, and of course a huge piece of lycra! He is a gifted percussionist and guitarist and she sings and engages the kids with real gusto, often with a child in her lap, as they are all drawn to her. Their sessions were the highlight in our week for many years, adults and children alike, and the only time my kids enjoyed tummy time  as babies were during those afternoons as there was always so much going on at their level! They have branched out and started doing sessions in residential homes, so the children are there with the older people, and apparently it’s really therapeutic. Very inspiring.

Other people that I find utterly inspiring are some of the Christians in our local community. We ourselves are part of a city wide church, though we lead a local small group for folks in our area, but I love that we have had the privilege of meeting people from the wider church in our area. Our local vicar is wonderful and I appreciate gleaning insights and wisdom from her over a cup of tea! We’ve celebrated Christmas, Easter and weddings in her church, and she does a stellar job of the not easy task of bringing together people from many different backgrounds. We are fortunate to have friends from the Salvation Army and YWAM who are also actively involved in our neighbourhood to try and bring God’s hope, love and kingdom here. I find their creativity beautiful- from pop up cafes and cinemas, to story telling around fire pits, and delivering food baskets to Muslim neighbours on Eid. It has been a privilege to collaborate with them all over the years, for example to create prayer spaces in our community.

For at least the first half of our time here in our neighbourhood, we helped to run a youth project on Friday nights (Jon then stuck it out a couple of years more, but I stayed home with the bubbas!). Though it was carnage and exhausting at times, we have some amazing memories from that time too. There were round the world table tennis competitions, amazing hot chocolates, people stealing from the tuck shop, and a lot of football games. After a year or so we invited some of the older ones to our house every month for a small group of sorts, where we’d chat about faith and life and God. We made a ton of pizza, had a mobile phone ban and instead chatted and played games around the dining room table. Maybe I am looking back through rose tinted glasses, but I feel very affectionately about those evenings!

One night we took a few of those lads to Church. They twerked through worship (we later coined the term ‘twership’), pointed out all of the ‘piff’ girls, and one boy threw up because he’d drank too much milkshake on our McDonald’s stop off on the way there! Still, they said they enjoyed it; go figure! Following that, we took some more of the kids to the church’s youth group for a Christmas party, and then week after week, a bunch of them would cycle over to the youth group themselves.

For us, moving has a been a really tough decision, but when the removal company arrived, it gave the perfect end to our time here. We couldn’t believe it when we opened the door to the team to see that one of those twerking lads from our youth project was going to be moving us, perhaps more surprising because it was not a particularly local company! As he was chatting (and packing) with Jon down in the basement, he said that as a result of getting involved with stuff at the church, he realised that his life could take a different turn, and he actively decided not to go down the drug dealing route that some of his friends have taken and subsequently served time for. It was the loveliest coincidence that he has helped us pack up and move, and was a real encouragement to us that all those mad Friday evenings were worth the time and effort! It has brought our time in our local community round in a full circle, and I’m so grateful for that!