Our time bank had its bi-monthly public meeting this afternoon. Although I had inserted a free ad in our local paper, no listings appeared today, so effectively there was no advertising, except for the paper's online listings. Similarly, I had put a free ad in a local free advertising magazine before Christmas, but as far as I know the magazine has not been distributed yet, so that wasn't of much use, was it! I think in future, word of mouth is the best method of telling people about our meetings and the time bank. Personal recommendation is always going to be more effective than impersonal advertising. Anyway, two new people came today, and both signed up to the time bank.
We had prepared some light entertainment put on by ourselves. One of our number read an amusing poem he had written about time banking, and three of us sung. I was a little nervous before I stood up to sing, but as there was only a small audience, it wasn't too scary! We sang the Beatles song, Yesterday, and Edelweiss from The Sound of Music, and we did it in reasonable harmony! It seemed to go down quite well anyway. We have now been practicing in the singing group for a few weeks, and we will continue to practice for our next event, whenever that is.
Several people spoke about the challenges lying ahead for the time bank because of the economic crisis and our broken society and it seems we are part of a social experiment, which is both daunting and exciting. Daunting because we are only a small organisation and the challenges are enormous; exciting because we may be part of an alternative economics. We as a society are facing the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s and we may be on a precipice or we may be at the beginning of a breakthrough. That is what makes it both daunting and exciting. This is not what was said by the speakers exactly but it was sort of implied, and what follows are some of my thoughts brought on by the things that were said.
What it comes down to is that services are being cut to the bone (in our area alone, social services are being cut by about 50%, and this in a part of Essex which includes two of the most deprived areas of the country) and it may be that the only thing we can rely on is one another, helping our neighbours and by that I mean neighbours in the Christian sense of the word, and not just those who live next door to us. As one of the speakers pointed out, the former Canon of St Paul's Cathedral, who resigned late last year, was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman last night and he (the former Canon) had spoken to a number of bankers and executives in the City of London and even they don't have a clue how to put right the mess caused by the financial crisis. This being so, we shall have to rely on each other by cooperation and mutual aid, and it seems the Government are so desperate that they are willing to try radical means to overcome the crisis, and this may include time banks. The question is, do we want to be part of an experiment? Well, from my point of view, if it leads to a radical change in the way we do things, the way we earn a living and the way we organise our society, then yes, I am up for it. But we do not want to be used as a cheap alternative to the welfare state and proper healthcare. If the Government thinks that it can think again. One thing is for sure, we can't go on the way we are, bailing out every country whose economy has gone under and borrowing money we don't have.
Despite the low numbers today, I and my colleagues on the committee were very encouraged by how the meeting went. Our next meeting will be in March.
We had prepared some light entertainment put on by ourselves. One of our number read an amusing poem he had written about time banking, and three of us sung. I was a little nervous before I stood up to sing, but as there was only a small audience, it wasn't too scary! We sang the Beatles song, Yesterday, and Edelweiss from The Sound of Music, and we did it in reasonable harmony! It seemed to go down quite well anyway. We have now been practicing in the singing group for a few weeks, and we will continue to practice for our next event, whenever that is.
Several people spoke about the challenges lying ahead for the time bank because of the economic crisis and our broken society and it seems we are part of a social experiment, which is both daunting and exciting. Daunting because we are only a small organisation and the challenges are enormous; exciting because we may be part of an alternative economics. We as a society are facing the biggest economic crisis since the 1930s and we may be on a precipice or we may be at the beginning of a breakthrough. That is what makes it both daunting and exciting. This is not what was said by the speakers exactly but it was sort of implied, and what follows are some of my thoughts brought on by the things that were said.
What it comes down to is that services are being cut to the bone (in our area alone, social services are being cut by about 50%, and this in a part of Essex which includes two of the most deprived areas of the country) and it may be that the only thing we can rely on is one another, helping our neighbours and by that I mean neighbours in the Christian sense of the word, and not just those who live next door to us. As one of the speakers pointed out, the former Canon of St Paul's Cathedral, who resigned late last year, was interviewed by Jeremy Paxman last night and he (the former Canon) had spoken to a number of bankers and executives in the City of London and even they don't have a clue how to put right the mess caused by the financial crisis. This being so, we shall have to rely on each other by cooperation and mutual aid, and it seems the Government are so desperate that they are willing to try radical means to overcome the crisis, and this may include time banks. The question is, do we want to be part of an experiment? Well, from my point of view, if it leads to a radical change in the way we do things, the way we earn a living and the way we organise our society, then yes, I am up for it. But we do not want to be used as a cheap alternative to the welfare state and proper healthcare. If the Government thinks that it can think again. One thing is for sure, we can't go on the way we are, bailing out every country whose economy has gone under and borrowing money we don't have.
Despite the low numbers today, I and my colleagues on the committee were very encouraged by how the meeting went. Our next meeting will be in March.
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