Have you ever tried playing Jenga with assorted cardboard boxes? That’s one of the activities that we did together on the afternoon of 23rd of August at the village hall in Highfields. There was lots of laughter, and no little engineering skill, as some of us worked out how to achieve the tallest tower by taking out selected lower ‘bricks’ and balancing them carefully in the top. Over the meal that followed, there were also some wise reflections on the nature of building communities – the need for balance; the importance of getting the foundation right; the importance of building for stability; that someone with enthusiasm and ideas galvanises everyone else; that when one ‘brick’ is removed the tower stays standing (for the most part!) and the ‘bricks’ are not lost, they are just used in a different position.
We also looked more closely at Highfields – ‘who lives here?’ using demographic data; and began to rough out some of the things already going on in the annual and weekly calendar.
Fourteen people sat down for the community meal together… and it seemed as though no one wanted to go home.
We continue to meet, with an open invitation, to rough out the scope of the project – what kind of gathering(s), who for and when? The next meeting is on 27 September at 5pm to 6.30ish.