How to revitalise a village - Farringdon

June 30, 2006, 10:56 am

The amazing success story of the Farringdon Society of Arts will be the subject of a 40-minute documentary film.

The FSA will celebrate its second anniversary with a two-day festival on July 8-9, which will showcase the film on a continuous loop.

With no shops, pubs or facilities beside the village hall and church, five Farringdon residents got together to form the society in the summer of 2004.

FSA founder member Janet Sawyer said: “We wanted to enhance the sense of community within Farringdon and create a vibrant rural hamlet.

“Once we started we found that between us we knew a lot of different and interesting people who could come and give talks. It’s an arts society in a very broad sense.”

The society’s first event was a recital by harpist Elizabeth Jane Baldry and this has been followed by a fascinating programme of events, including star gazing, pottery classes, painting lectures and culinary extravaganzas.

The FSA received a grant of £1,300, which paid for its first event, plus £1,000 worth of equipment for the village hall.

Since the society’s formation, the village’s cultural life has blossomed. It now boasts monthly book, bridge, singing and mother and toddler clubs and an acoustic cafe, all of which is sustained within a hamlet of just 300 people. Amazingly, FSA membership has mushroomed from five to 90 people.

Founder member Vivien Barnes said: “It’s the sort of thing that every village wants, but just requires people to get out and do it. As William Blake said ‘nothing exists which was not first dreamed of’. The society is an old fashioned concept of community.”

A key feature of the society is its informality, which means villagers can attend as many or as few events as they like and its success has led to a marked increase in social cohesion within the village.

“The transformation within Farringdon has been incredible. We all know many more people within the village and have found friends to go to other events with.

“One friend says before it would take him 30 minutes to walk the village perimeter, but now it’s a two-hour trip, because there are just so many people to say hello to,” Mrs Sawyer added.

(this article was taken from the ExmouthJournal)