Sticky tape and hope - the call of the of community event.

Being based in the part of the world where the summer holidays are getting in to swing, I am noting that the number of local family-friendly events is significantly increasing. It naturally has something to do with the better weather - no event really improves after you’ve been rained on - but it's also about filling the school sized hole. Parents and carers eagerly looking for ways to entertain children and add something different to a week, without breaking the bank. Organisations and businesses are ever eager to fill that gap, looking to capitalise on a willing, sometimes desperate, audience.

I am one of the former, but I have my niche. Ever since I was a kid, I have always loved the ‘thrown together' events. The 'trying-hard' local communities who want to build a park or the small charities or action groups that have, on the top of their busy lives, committed to making an effort for a good cause. The school or church fete, the charity fun day, the rugby club fundraiser, to name but a few, were always my go to.

It s partly thanks to the thrifty genes, passed down through the previous generations. I don’t want to spend actual notes entertaining my child for an hour, when a handful of coins to hook a duck and splat a rat will do the job just as well. 'Common economic sense in action' is how I'm politely terming my cheapskate bones. You set your expectations at the door and don’t feel (too) let down if it’s not what you were hoping or expecting. You make the best of it and, because of that, you almost inevitably have some kind of fun. It might not be the kind of fun advertised, but you come home tired and laughing. You don’t feel quite so cheated if you turn up and you’ve spent nothing, as you can do when you spend big notes on a ‘family ticket’ only to find the day turn into a disaster.

The main draw for me, though, is the spirit of the thing. Each small investment or commitment highlights how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Teamwork. The idea that you can enjoy yourself without large expense and do some good at the same time, ticks all my boxes. In my youth I manned stalls, made banners, sorted raffle prizes and counted takings. I was never chief organiser, but always affable conscripted volunteer. Since becoming a parent, however, I have stepped firmly over to the other side of the trestle table. My life felt too busy and sometimes too complicated to be able to commit. I turn up with that pocket of coins but won't volunteer for fear of letting people down.

Today, as we ‘oohed’ and ‘aahed’ and ‘look there’s one over there...’ on the path through another village scarecrow festival, I realised I’d found my charity event soulmate. I love them.

I love them because:

• You can get involved, but in your own time(ish) and on your own terms. There is no requirement to ‘turn up on the day’. You build your thing in whatever free minute you have in the lead up and you let it do its thing when the time comes;

• It’s a choice for attendees to donate or not. Those who can’t afford it don’t have to donate, but they can still enjoy it. Those who can, can, and whatever amount they see fit;

• The people who get involved don’t have to spend tons of cash. They can budget or bodge dependent on their financial situation. Sure, there might be the odd competitive one splashing out and looking to be the best, but in these cases it really is the taking part that counts. The more entries you have, however small the effort or limited the crafting talent, the better the event. Every scarecrow, however small, counts.

My neighbourhood is not a community but, were it to come a calling, this is the one thing I think I could sign up to. It probably says a whole heap about me, and I’ll likely own every one of the things it says, but if I’m going to dip my toe back in to a well of community spirit, I’m going to want to do it slowly and on my terms.

In the mean time, I’m here to encourage you, as you get ready to pass the heady weekends of summer (or winter, if you’re reading this from the bit of the world that’s currently cold) to look for the community events. Look for those afternoons of activities stuck together with sticky tape and hope, and give them your support. Your small coins might just be the thing that helps them make a big impact and you might just come away with a smile a little bit bigger than the one you had when you arrived. No promises mind...

#highcroftwriting #words #stickytapeandhope #communityevent #charityevent #scarecrowfestival;