Village resources – an embryonic idea
Phil Simnett (Gooselands’ snapper of repute) recently mentioned that he would be happy to be contacted by neighbours keen to avail themselves of his photographic skills, for free. Which is exceptionally kind of him, of course.
Then, separately, in a Local Instant Messaging Group, a call went out from a Local Gentleman for a sledgehammer that he might borrow. People were quick (too quick, perhaps) to offer log-splitting axes, then they had to retract those offers as unsuitable, but it was all ok, because other people knew the difference between and took a photograph of their borrowable sledgehammers to… cough… hammer home the point.
Anyway… my point is… what a kind and thoughtful village this is!
But also… do you think Rathmell should have be a slightly more formal / structured way for people to offer or request services or rarely-used, hard-to-wreck items? I know some people around here hide their lights under bushels, and I suspect some people around here (myself included) would quite like to be asked to help with X or Y. I know for a fact that some people around here (definitely myself) would like to know who to ask for help or advice with certain things I’m no good at… I am still grateful for a photocopy and a kind word received from a neighbour on how to prune a fruit tree, for example, and there was also this time that the children and I happened to mention to another neighbour that we were looking for flint, and that very neighbour turned out to be A Bit Of An Expert on local geology, which was brilliant, and he just handed us a flint over the garden wall.
On the point about “stuff one has purchased to use once, which thereafter spends 99.99% of the time unused and gathering dust or rust”, I know I have items I would very happily make available for the Common Good. Heavy-duty boltcutters for example. And a jigsaw. And a jigsaw puzzle, come to think of it.
Unexpected Epiphanies are great, but would a Library of Things and a Human Library, be useful things to have in Rathmell? They could be online or on handwritten pieces of paper in the Reading Room or on the notice board, for example. Or do you know it has already been tried, and proven to be less useful than the idealism might suggest? Get in touch! editor@rathmellvillage.org.uk