The Green
Dear friends,
The English village has a number of features which form the traditional “glue” for its society. There are suppliers of food or drink, such as a shop, cafe, pub, bakery and so on, around which people congregate according to their means or their leisure, whether in time or money. There are the businesses, nurseries and schools, all of which have paid employees and offer a service – petrol for your vehicle, or education for your children. Again, people gather according to need. There are thirdly clubs, groups, and amenities, almost all run and managed by unpaid volunteers, such as community halls, sports facilities, churches and welfare or interest societies. This latter class are in theory open to all ages and stages and don’t need anything from you but your time and interest.
However these are all “human” features. The English village also has, invariably, one or more geographic feature which give it shape and identity. For many thousands of English villages this focus is an empty space, somewhere set aside and protected in Trust against sale or development, which we know as “The Green”. An open space in the centre, owned by nobody and yet possessed by everybody, where you can meet, walk, or just sit and watch the world go by. A place that everyone knows as “the middle” even when it is not. A place which epitomises the freedom it offers. Somewhere unbounded. Sometimes there is a pond. Sometimes a pub. Sometimes a church. Sometimes it is at a crossroads. In my youth we lived in Trottiscliffe, Kent, in an old cottage which overlooked the green. It was just two small triangles of grass at a four way X shaped road junction, with The George opposite, and the school bus stop on the third side. There was a “proper” playing field elsewhere, behind the school. In this village, the Green represented the choices of life; left to Addington (and then West Malling), or right to Wrotham Heath, (and then Sevenoaks), or, facing north, right to the school and then the church, or straight ahead to the Post Office and then up the very steep (1:4) hill towards the Medway towns. Or, pause and take your time in the hostelry while you ponder on the decisions you face, whether on the road or in life in general.
Most of our communities in the Langtree Team Ministry have some kind of green public space, cared for and maintained by the relevant Parish Council. Each offers a variety of natural habitats where there is year round freedom of access for both old and young, a place from where you can look up to see the sky above and feel the wind in your face. The next time you pass, whether taking ten in the middle of the day, or walking the dog, pause, look around you, and give thanks. This is what freedom feels like.
0 Comments