Community Projects - The Kilcoole Collective
The Beachdale Community Project is a project I wish to develop to revamp the idea of community. It is ridiculous to call what we have a community, rather a cluster of clusters of individual cells. It is rare that a neighbour smiles and says hello anymore.
The plan is to write down the points I/ the collective believe will help the community and to spread the ideas throughout the housing estate in an attempt to bring a number of members of the community to a meeting to discuss the points and go about implementing them.
The points I have thought about so far are that it would be very good if it was possible to create a weekly market area on one of our greens where people can come together, perhaps on a Sunday afternoon, to socialise and talk, to get to know one another. They could bring old clothes and belongings they no longer wish to possess and perhaps food they no longer need or is about to go off, and exchange with others. People that know how to grow food could teach others and they could bring their surplus to the market to exchange. There could even be a collective garden in one of the greens, or maybe even breaking down the walls and fences in back gardens and creating street-long collective gardens. If that's too radical, maybe just the back half of their gardens. Car pools could be organized to make it handier to get to work or go shopping. A day-care/ night-care system could be developed where people could work out when they could look after other's children and when others could look after theirs. I believe it would be far more beneficial to have the community looking after its children rather than paid individuals or crèches, all of which can be very expensive. The beauty of the community, of course, is that it would be a collective effort and therefore free.
My mind boggles at the fact that people pay others to look after their children for a few hours while they go out and vent all their pent up frustration at the fact that they are always pent up, instead of communities looking after the children of all. How did it get to such a state of alienation between neighbours?!
I would be interested in developing a waste management workshop where the community can come together and learn/ teach about how to recycle, how to make compost, fertilizer, paper and perhaps a collection point and time can be established for sending the likes of cans and bottles to a recycling centre. Garage workshops could also be set up where things are brought to be fixed and people can also learn how to fix and build things.
Attempts at breaking down mental gender barriers with these activities must be kept in mind. Women can build and fix, men can mother, its true. Honest.
If the community collectivised to its maximum potential and efficiency, just think how much money people could save. More time could be taken off work and spent with friends and family. Less of their time and energy would be wasted in the wage-labour system and so they would inevitably feel far better about themselves, less stress and more creativity and friendship in their life.
Another project I wish to pursue is the Kilcoole Community Recording Studio. The plans for attaining the building are fairly rigid but help will be need. And also the collective will have a hand in running the studio afterwards.
The idea in the studio is to help teach others the idea behind DIY, the music industry, recording, releasing and other musical endeavours. I also hope for it to encourage others into following musical paths.
-- Ed Whitfield, December 2003
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