Cogges Parish newsletter June 2005

From the newsletter ...

What is your passion?

For many British it has got to be football....the enthusiasm and the excitement it evokes, every household stops when it's the `big match', out with the beers and away with the children or any other such interruption! For others those little white golf balls have a certain charm, it draws people to local golf clubs to wile away the hours hooking one out of the rough or the sand!. Then there's retail therapy.....now that's a passion for many.....especially if there is the chance of a bargain!.

It is interesting to note that most national charities are run by passionate people who have personal experience of cancer, blindness or other such illnesses. Out of an experience which was usually a negative one, comes a passion to help those who are suffering in the same way. Yet we are told that society today has never been as anti organisations and person centred. Is that really true?

I live on Madley Park a new estate in Witney. I find that here I exercise my own personal passion which is `building community'. When I first moved onto the estate 18 months ago it was not uncommon to hear mums say that they would walk the estate during the day just trying to find someone to talk to. The houses on Madley Park have high walls for protection and security both very valuable but not great for chatting to ones neighbour, pretty well impossible actually!!

There are now 600 occupied houses with another 500+ in the process of being built. Has anything changed? Well the young mums say that the Toddlers@ 10 group has been a great place of meeting, as has the new playground. Other events such as the Business Network lunches and the forthcoming School Ball all help to build community. But what about those who work away from home.......the 7 am -7 pm brigade....how do they meet each other? Well a Jazz evening was well received and summer barbeques are on the cards....... all it takes people to come along to make them `community building' events.

So how can we create a community? Well at Cogges they run Seniors gatherings every second Friday afternoon in the month, there are care groups to help those in need, a Toddler group, a ladies group, a Marriage Enrichment Course, a new place for 13+ aged youngsters to meet. Great community initiatives and all run by.......the church. The church is at the centre of local `community building'. So the next time you say `phah' when you hear the church being mentioned, and you are tempted to talk about its irrelevance, just reflect on how many community activities are initiated by the local churches in Witney. They are just following the model of a passionate man called Jesus whose love for everyone regardless of race, colour, or creed..... was life changing. A person worth getting to know!!!

Penny Joyce

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