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Networking: Debbie Warrener |
From a street full of houses to a network of neighbours
Civil servant’s flyers usher in a round of socialising and baby-sitting swaps
WHEN civil servant Debbie Warrener felt isolated and unsafe in her own street in Upper Holloway she decided it was time to get to know her neighbours.
She produced, wrote and delivered 100 flyers to residents inviting them to meet for a chat on neutral ground, a church hall.
“The best way of creating a safe and friendly neighbourhood is for everyone to know their neighbours and look out for each other,” she wrote.
Just five residents from Ashley Road turned up for that first tentative meeting at St Mary’s Church 10 months ago.
But today Ashley Road Community Network is a thriving self-help organisation of more than 50 residents who meet regularly to socialise, exchange services such as baby-sitting, and to deal with issues like crime and litter.
The phenomenal success of the network, and how it can work for other streets and estates, will be the subject of two workshops at a Climate Change and Me conference at Highbury Fields School on Saturday, October 11.
The network is being used as a blueprint for good neighbour self-help co-operatives, where people get together and save money by sharing and exchanging services and skills.
Debbie, 34, who works for the Department for International Development, said that everyone has heard pensioners talking about the good old days when people knew their neighbours and front doors could be left open all day.
“Today we all live shuttered lives,” she added. “We go to work, we come home and watch TV. Few of us know who our neighbours are, which is very sad.
“In Ashley Road we’ve turned all that around. We meet up socially if we want to. We share information on local services, amenities and tradespeople. If we know of someone on their own who needs help we look out for them.” Members of the network have a wide range of jobs and professions. They include teachers, psychiatrists, accountants, shop assistants, artists and manual workers.
The group is setting up an Ashley Road Yellow Pages, which will list services and events.
Debbie said she had considered forming a residents’ association but thought that had a 1950s feel about it. “We wanted it to be fun with a social aspect rather than formal,” she said. “It’s a fantastic feeling to know you are no longer alone in a street full of houses.”
Debbie will be running two workshops at the Climate Change and Me conference being organised by former Friends of the Earth campaigner Nicola Baird. She can be contacted at Debbie_warrener@hotmail.com. Climate Change and Me is at Highbury Fields School from 11am to 6pm on October 11. More details at climatechangeandme.blogspot.com |
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