With all the doom and gloom thanks to the impending cuts, plus the general hideousness of living under a ConDem government, it's worth doing something a little frivolous and fun now and again.
Today I helped out at Dark Day at Hornsey Vale Community Centre in Stroud Green, where I'm an active trustee. Dark Day is an event we hold every year instead of fireworks and it's always a massive hit with families. Children decorate glass jars with tissue paper and then drop a lit tea-light inside their creations. We all then parade through dark Stationer's Park, forming a circle at the top of the hill and singing songs. It's kind of magical and a wee bit alternative...in other words, very Stroud Green! As for health and safety...see the poster above of the song that our chair, Lynne Brackley, was singing in dulcet if slightly anxious tones!
I helped out in the kitchen which is always fun if chaotic. Totting up the prices in my head for various tea, mulled wine and cake orders was quite a challenge, maths not being my strongpoint. It's great seeing all the familiar faces from the community coming along - many people commented to me today how great such events were. "I can't think of anything better to be doing on a Sunday afternoon," was how one woman put it. Quite!
I couldn't help thinking, though, of what would happen if the council cuts funding to the community centre. Would such events become a thing of the past? Would the community centre stand empty, all boarded up? What constitutes a 'front line service' - and will all such services really be protected in reality, anyway? A few dark thoughts, then, but for today let's just appreciate the light relief and revel in the community coming together to enjoy a bit of candle-lit fun.
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