The price of everything and


I lived in the town of Carluke, south of Glasgow, most of my adult life, but I never felt like I was part of a community. In the 1960’s the heart of Carluke, like so many other towns, was gouged out in the name of modernity, moving forward, and planning ahead. The town hall, council offices, pubs and shops were all offered up as a sacrifice to progress. Carluke today is bland, grey, dull and devoid of civic pride; not a pleasant place to bring up children or live in peace with your neighbours.


I have to admit that for many years I too was as guilty as everyone else in putting nails in the coffin of community. I shopped at the supermarkets, wouldn’t walk that extra 50 yards to the shop on the side of the main thoroughfare and took no interest in anything outside my own front door. It was too much bother, or someone else would do it.


When I decided to leave my offshore job and start a new career I knew exactly what I had in mind, a Post Office in a small English village, preferably on the


A personal view from a Sub-post Master It is not only government and councils which carry the blame for the demise of our sense of community, we also have ourselves to blame.


south coast. Cricket on the village green, local characters flooding into the shop, tall tales in the corner of the pub which would become my local, a sigh of contentment at the end of a lovely day. That crash you just heard was the sound of my dreams


shattering into a thousand pieces, as reality bit.


I arrived in Warton in Lancashire at the beginning of the


new millennium and began to settle in. I was prepared to put a lot of effort into the Post Office and shop, firstly because I wanted it to be a success and secondly because if I wanted the


kind of life I had dreamt about. I also felt that I had to give something back. The Post Office business did well and almost all Warton’s


pensioners came through the door; this also helped with the shop turnover, as they would stop for a chat and pick up a paper, some bread or a pint of milk. We went out of our way to take part in village activities, we supported the old age


pensioners by attending their annual fund raising event. We made a point of popping in to the Church Hall for the Horticultural


Society open day as well as the Art Group’s


exhibitions. We sponsored prizes, took part in sports days and


attended plays by the local drama group. It was a new life and a very welcome one.


Seven years on and things have changed quite significantly. Due to government changes there is now only a trickle of die-hard


24


www.arthurrankcentre.org.uk


rural issues


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