Yesterday the Gazette & Herald published a story about Market Lavington’s fantastic efforts in supporting each other during this pandemic, well done to everyone involved!
I love Market Lavington, my parents live there and both myself and my family have lots of friends in the village. It has a really local, friendly feeling to it, I think probably because of the tightly grouped placement of some of the local businesses around the market place including (but not limited to!) the Green Dragon, the Co-Op, Lloyds Pharmacy and R Douse & Son. In many ways the Covid situation has emphasised this because even driving through the village you see lines of people queuing outside of the various shops with people chatting away from a safe distance.
What Market Lavington residents have done in coordinating a support group and working together has also been happening in other local villages too. The Cheverells, Easterton, Urchfont and over here in West Lavington and Littleton Panell, people have come forward to help assist their fellow residents in various ways. I think this is a fantastic thing and whilst we would all have preferred to not have to deal with a pandemic I believe it is important to see some of the good things that come from so much sadness. Community spirit is most definitely one of those things.
I believe it is important to see some of the good things that come from so much sadness
If more people support their local community organisations, whether they are Covid support groups, or completely unrelated to the pandemic, such as school governing boards, parish councils and youth clubs, we can vastly improve our communities and our enjoyment of them.
I liken it to holding shares in a company; if you are invested in a business you will want it to succeed, you will do anything you can to make it work and in the end you will profit from it. At the same time, if you have no investment in a business it doesn’t matter to you whether it survives or not. The issue is that companies without investment don’t work and when they fail they leave an empty hole.
If you can spare some time please take a look at local organisations and enquire as to whether you can help. So far we have 51 volunteers in West Lavington and Littleton Panell who are collecting prescriptions, doing food shops or just being a friendly voice on the end of the phone. Think about how you can put your skills to use and who in the community you could help by offering just a few minutes of your time.
More so than ever we need to give our time to local community projects and our vulnerable neighbours. Likewise we need to spend our money in local businesses who might be feeling the pinch. Buy your meat locally, support local businesses like Turners Fire or Tsangs Kitchen and when the pubs are open… use them!
If we step-up and look after each other we can make it through this pandemic and we will all benefit further down the line.
