Did you see any benefits from the project?
Working with Babbling Vagabonds and the school has helped to reinforce a sense of community and belonging by preserving community identity and social cohesion. By sharing their skills and resources people learnt something new and I think those that took part now feel a greater sense of confidence to be creative. It’s good to feel part of something and it felt multi-generational too.
Did you notice any change as the project developed?
There has been greater involvement by more members of the community. Even if people didn’t take part they knew what was happening, who the Babbling Vagabonds were, and they wanted to know how the project was going.
As the project developed there were more ideas from within the community. The village has a telephone box and that has now been rechristened the Biggin Telephone Exchange. It’s home to a book swap and seed swap as well as containing information about the parish history, which we’ve decided will be changed on a regular basis to keep things fresh. More excitingly since the project we’ve decided to decorate it to fit with different seasonal events. The first one will be Harvest but it’s also going to be decorated for Halloween and Christmas.
What is your stand out memory from the project?
My stand out memory was the shadow puppet making. – everyone produced something and they were very pleased. One of the puppets even made its way to a school governors’ meeting! Another fun thing from the project was the sheep scarecrows that the children made.
Has this project made a difference to you, and or the community? If so, how?
It’s renewed my enthusiasm to work within the community and to foster links with the school. It’s also made me want to try new crafts and experiences.
Since the closure of the church last year and with the cost of living crisis there has been a decline in community participation. Not everyone wants to go to the pub or go out in the evening to socialise – and very often it doesn’t involve a cross section of the community. It may be a bit old-fashioned but it’s reminded me and several others how important it is to have fun as a community and share our skills. Social isolation remains a factor in Biggin and within the farming community – this project changed that and there’s now a greater impetus to grow.
What would you like in the future?
To work with Babbling Vagabonds as a community, including the school. Find ways throughout the year to grow new traditions, or revisit old ones, to foster creativity and develop community cohesiveness to counter social isolation, and place the school at the centre of a thriving community. There were several suggestions made at the first meeting that included trails, reintroducing seasonal traditions such as a mummers’ play or Guy Fawkes type event… a pumpkin carving workshop might be rather fun….There has also been discussion about the way the community could creatively promote its flora and fauna – we all like the idea of creating hedgehog houses and insect boxes.
Final Reflections
During lockdown we did really well for a small community – there was an knitted Easter chick containing a chocolate egg for every child in the parish thanks to a small group of dedicated knitters; Halloween trails and plenty of sweets without the need to knock on front doors; Christmas lights and outdoor carols and the school did their nativity procession to Biggin Hall – that has turned into a tradition but the other Christmas and Halloween things have trailed off – perhaps because of the cost of electricity last year and because it was timed wrong.
Events tend to have a slow ‘burn’ in Biggin. It takes a while for things to grow but once word of mouth provides positive feedback more people do join in – success is when teenagers join in, they might as well be absent from the village most of the time, they just seem to disappear when they leave primary for secondary school. Another marker of success will be when people ask you when the next event is going to be and the village hall is full!