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What makes a good community?
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Christine Thompson


Posts: -15
Joined: Aug 2008
Post: #1
24-09-2008 10:10 AM

Community cohesion is a current buzz phrase. What makes a good community. I would use community to mean a smallish area with some cohesion. For Here Our Prayer we took the community of Sydenham and Forest Hill as the postcodes of SE26 and SE23, a fairly arbitrary criteria but they merge into each other and people move between them frequently for shopping, enteratinment and travel. Society I would take to mean Great Britain plc or possibly England plc is you accept that there are significant difference between England and Wales and Scotland.

I will kick off with a suggestion. When I go inot schools I am very impressed with the work on the walls. the mission statements etc. but I hate having to buzz at agtes to be let in. It used to be possible to just walk into a school.

A good community would be one where schools would be open.

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brian


Posts: 2,002
Joined: Apr 2005
Post: #2
24-09-2008 10:26 AM

Yes I do see your point , when I was at school not border guards.

All schools seem to erect large wire fences , nearest to me , Christchurch School, seems to have also covered up the wire fences to presumably stop people looking in.
What is the world coming to .

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #3
24-09-2008 12:16 PM

I rather like this community. It make not have a physical presence (other than a server which I believe is in Wigan), but people have common interests which they talk about and are willing to help each other in a variety of ways, some of which even extend to the real world.

Dispite our differences it is move cohesive than many real life communities and it is more tolerant of new comers, as long as they follow a few basic rules. The real world has a lot to learn from Internet forums and that may be why this was where the Forest Hill Society was founded.

No community can exist without taking account of the dangers and risks from the wider society. It is for this reason that offices, schools, hospitals and synagogues all require security systems. However good a community it does not mean that there are no threats from the outside world. I do not believe schools in Forest Hill having buzzers or fences makes it a 'bad community'.

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davidl


Posts: 180
Joined: Oct 2007
Post: #4
29-09-2008 10:59 AM

Quote:
Society I would take to mean Great Britain plc or possibly England plc is you accept that there are significant difference between England and Wales and Scotland.


Not wanting to head off at too much of a tangent, but doesn't this society also include Northern Ireland?

Anyway, to return to the original point and schools, I'd rather have control around access than increase the chances of another incident like those featuring Thomas Hamilton or Garnet Bell - specific happenings (among a general fear) which caused schools to increase their security. And I agree with Michael - this sort of thing doesn't necessarily indicate a bad society (though the need for them might suggest that something is wrong).

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Snazy


Posts: 1,516
Joined: Jan 2008
Post: #5
29-09-2008 12:20 PM

I sadly have to say I think that the shielding of children from view from possible predators is a good idea rather than a negative. It in no way reflects a bad community, and shows the schools have the childrens safety at heart.
I went to a school many years ago that was free to walk in and out of, and views through the fences were possible. However child abduction and sexual abuse of children seemed far less common as it is today.

Conversation in the streets and on the station platforms, helping one another, and looking out for your neighbours are the starts of a good enviroment. Consideration for others in your actions is another thing that lacks in todays society.

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