I always find that midsummer’s day comes far too quickly. I suspect it is probably because we always have elections in May and so by the time we have finished campaigning, the summer is well under way and before you know it the nights start drawing in again. It may be that or the fact that we have had pretty bad weather up to now!
Summer always brings a healthy round of fetes and carnivals. Last weekend was Kidderminster’s turn and they enjoyed far better weather than Bewdley’s, a couple of weeks earlier. I have always felt that these types of events bring communities together and I was very worried when there was a serious threat to the continuation of Kidderminster’s carnival a few years back. The inevitable passage of time meant that the committee running it were getting to an age when they didn’t want to continue and there were no obvious people looking to take over. But I am pleased to say that this has been sorted out and the carnival is now back on track.
All these carnivals – Bewdley a couple of weeks ago, Kidderminster last weekend and Stourport on the first Saturday of September – and village fetes are organised by countless volunteers who create these events for no other reason than a sense of community pride and public service. I write about volunteering frequently in this column because I never fail to be amazed at just how much there really is. In the last couple of weeks alone, I have been to Kidderminster Nightstop – a charity for homeless kids, run mainly by volunteers; Areley Kings village hall tenth anniversary of their rebuild – organised and financed by the work of, exclusively, volunteers; and the Ourway football training for those with learning disabilities – organised and run by, yet again, volunteers.
It doesn’t matter what field of activity you look into, be it rescue services such as the Severn Area Rescue Association based in Kidderminster, or community first responders volunteering with the ambulance service, children’s clubs, sports clubs, political parties, church groups, village hall groups or whatever, they all exist simply because of the will and effort of countless volunteers who create these organisations for no gain save that of knowing that they have done something that they can feel proud of. Our wider community is the beneficiary of this and we are all incredibly grateful.