Eimear Hutchinson: The importance of community

I WAS doing some work recently online promoting the government-funded initiative Street Feast, and it is something that really struck a chord for me.

I am not from Cork, nor is my husband, and over the last six years since moving to Kilworth, a small village nestled between Fermoy and Mitchelstown, we have really come to appreciate the value and support of our community.

Street Feast aims to bring communities together for a party on June 25, whether it is the whole village, your estate, your road or your apartment building. No hidden agendas, it is literally about celebrating collectively and giving people in different communities an excuse to come together and get to know each other better.

When we first moved here, we made a conscious effort to get involved in things locally. It takes time to draw strength from your community and it involves effort, but for us to make this area feel like home, it has been so worth it.

For the first year or so that we lived here, we did toy with the idea of moving back to Sligo or even going abroad because we didn’t really feel we had a connection to the locality, which is normal when you’re new to a place. Once our eldest lady started school and we started to get involved in different things around the village, it quite quickly started to feel like home.

Now it is a place we could never imagine leaving, such are the connections have built.

I think, as a parent, it is relatively easy to slot into a community, especially as the children get older and get out into the community themselves. Children have a great way of making sure they are stuck in as many activities as earthly possible so it is almost impossible not to get to know people, whether it is at the school gate or the side of a pitch or a pool.

I met most of my group of very close friends in the village through the local toddler group. I ended up running it one year because it needed a volunteer and I recognised its importance in my life at a time when the girls were babies and I found that period quite isolating.

My husband and I fully believe that to be part of a community, you have to give as much as you get, so we do our best to help out wherever we can. If I’m not coaching athletics, he is coaching soccer, and if I’m not at the parents’ association, he’s helping out with camogie training. Our children are involved in all the activities we help out at, so it makes sense to stay and assist as opposed to going home, killing time until you pick them up again.

I believe variety is important so I joined the tennis club to open myself up to a wider array of people, which has been brilliant too for giving me my own outlet outside of the children.

We love walking everywhere and it’s doubly advantageous as you’d be surprised how many people you get to know by simply passing them frequently on the street! It is a lovely way to meet some older people in the village that are out tending to their gardens or simply sitting watching the world fleet by. It would be as easy to rush past and get home to the long list of projects, work and housework that I have to get done, but I enjoy the chance to stop and chat.

I have some wonderful peonies in my flower beds as I got chatting to a lady who is always out tending to her beautiful garden. My Garmin watch must think I have my daily steps done by the time I get back after the first school run, I spend so much time raising my hand to wave at people!

There are different levels of camaraderie to be enjoyed in a community – those you can call on for a much-needed glass of wine, those you play sports with, those you can call if you need a child picked up. those you can count on to feed your cat when you’re away, and those that cover all those bases in one. All those different levels of support are something we are endlessly grateful for with no family around.

I think we are exceptionally lucky, and everyone who lives here always says the same thing, as a village everyone places huge importance on the sense of community we have here. Old or young, blow-in or descendants of the village founders, everyone feels welcome.

It is the most special feeling in the world to be part of something so wonderful and to get to call this place home. If you are new to a place or you don’t feel a connection with your area yet, I can’t stress how valuable it is to put yourself out there and join in. You won’t regret it!