Building community - staying safe

Children of the 1950's - I am one - must guard against romanticising the past. The sun was not always shining, cinemas full, deep pools of the Tees clean for swimming, shops characterful, people friendly, back lanes tidy and safe.

But Darlington people had then one strength which they appear now to have lost - they greeted one another, they spoke, they knew their names.

Experimentally, reminding myself of childhood journeys, as I walked across Stanhope Park to meet Stephanie from the hairdressers I greeted those that I passed. For most, eye contact was seemingly impossible; and some declined to speak or respond as they scurried by. It taught me a lesson - about myself and about others. I realised that acknowledging each other wasn't something I could demand on tap. We cannot simply turn the clock back to the halcyon 50's and 60's. We have slipped too far, away from the embrace (or otherwise) of community.

When speaking of community I boast that in 'my special terrace' we know each other - or at least 'of each other'. We are linked by a shared sense of belonging as well as our closed Facebook group and instant Messenger service. This way we stay informed, and to a large degree, inclusive. Yet we are one of few such communities, a small minority of Darlington people.

Investigation of the 'Manchester bombing' reminds us of how invisible people can be whilst living alongside others. Residents, disturbed by massive police activity outside their homes, took out their smart phones to film the houses of neighbours they did not know. "I have seen someone coming and going, but that's about it", they report to a Sky news reporter, then to retreat into their house and their anonymity.

As election politics heats we are told about police numbers, resources, budgets. "Policing is our priority - we are going to ensure a safer society", they say. But are the politicians missing the entire point of what makes community? We need police responses to feel safe, but we also need to look to ourselves and ask some simple questions. When did we last take responsibility for anything within our own community? When did we introduce ourselves to a neighbour, undertake a litter-pick, organise a local event, support a neighbourhood watch scheme?

If we want a safer community, we have to work to earn and retain it. It requires effort, but mostly its free. And it results in people knowing people; and people being known by people. Whilst challenges to our society appear to be coming from within our communities, we should address this, and come up with our own sustainable solutions rather than seeing it as 'someone else's problem'.