Friends visiting for the weekend commented “It was amazing – within five minutes of arriving people had introduced themselves, offered us something to eat and drink and given us a meaningful job to do!”
It would be nice to think that was a comment about their experience of church, but in actual fact they had stumbled upon apple-pressing weekend in the village: a time when the community gathers to pick the apples from the community orchard and turns them into juice. This year was a bumper crop and over 1,000 litres of juice were pressed and pasteurised over the weekend with some being set aside for cider production. The juice is sold to residents and local restaurants etc. the proceeds from which are used to fund activities within the community.
The village we live in comprises around 45 dwellings and boasts a pub, which is the centre for a number of activities, a community orchard and a community-owned flock of sheep (which was acquired to keep the grass in the orchard under control, although they are a menace when the apples are being picked as it appears sheep love freshly-picked apples).
My fears about moving to the countryside, that we would be viewed as outsiders for at least fifty years, have proved groundless as we have been greeted with open arms. Yes, we have tried to be good neighbours, but there is something more significant at work here.
Community is not built simply by living near to people and being friendly towards them. It is built when we ‘do life’ together, when we work alongside each other in common enterprise, when we serve each other and seek help from each other.
As a disabled person I am grateful to be surrounded by faithful friends and an amazing family but I am doubly blessed to be part of a community that I know will support me and Sally to be the best we can be. This is not because we have earned their support but rather because we are part of the community, and as long as we are prepared to reach out to those around us, they will reach out to us too.
Addendum: I have talked previously about the community sheep. We have recently taken steps to trim down the size of the flock as the numbers involved were getting out of hand. It was decided to keep just eight of the ewes, of varying ages, with ten more heading off to the abattoir and the rest being sold at market. Readers (and Sally) will be pleased to learn that #33 survived the cull and will be rolling around the orchard for another year 😊.
