This article was originally intended as a speech for the Nomos event in Manchester on 23 October 2021.

It has come to my attention that people on internet communities tend to be full of people desperate for communities that are a bit more local. This is perfectly natural as humans are social creatures needing constant communication and physical contact. However, what a local community looks and acts like is all so romanticised it is hard for someone who has been active in his local community to take seriously. So luckily I am here to tell you of my experience getting involved in my local community and the town’s history.

I come from a leafy suburb in Manchester and lived there most of my life. Throughout my childhood summers my mother would make sure I had plenty to do in my holidays, whether that was giving me extra schoolwork, putting me in a summer sports camp or volunteering for charitable causes. I was very rarely far out from my town, other than when I was in London for a summer job or in central Manchester doing a 3 week “citizenship service” set up by the national government. While there are some good memories outside my town in my summers but none compare to the sports camps, carnivals and friends you make nearby.

The History

My town has been a market town ever since 1290, as it was a centrally located town with many access roads allowing traders and farmers to sell their wares in the weekly market. This tradition of my town still goes on today with the market being open 6 days a week, mostly being attractive to local food retailers with arts, crafts and florists being found there too. Being a market town for over 700 years my town was a central transport hub, being one of the first towns with access to the Manchester ship canal allowing easy trade with Manchester and Liverpool. In this time market gardening was popular with the locals and became famous for it, a tradition that also is seen with well-maintained allotments where carrots and other vegetables are still grown.

As transport developed so did my town and the mid-19th century after the Manchester South Junction was constructed my town had easy access to Manchester and the rest of the country. Not long after my town became a place attractive for commuters and the middle class to live, and the population more than doubled over the next 30 years, with some areas becoming industrial estates and other areas having terrace estates built for workers and commuters. Even further out in more rural areas more cottages were being built as more people were getting into the food market, one of which is the very house I grew up in.

With the industrial revolution and industrialisation areas of my town went into a time of urbanisation. Much of the town is now urban with a large middle class, the rural areas were a great area for middle class commuters to grow the old hamlets turning them into leafy villages with their own markets. The population went from about 12 and a half thousand to almost 17 thousand in just 10 years at the end of the 19th century. We even got our own football team in the early 20th century which was created when 2 local teams merged as the town became more centralised and unified the areas around the town.

This is where my family now come into the story as my family is well known in the town, the older relatives are anyway. My great uncle was a family butcher, opening his first butcher’s shop in the 50’s and eventually opening 5 around the local area. The man was famous around town, as he was a regular at the Conservative Club, was director of local football club in the 70’s and being the largest family butcher in town you can see why he was very well known. He was very involved in the community beyond providing cuts of meat as he ran charity events for local efforts and influenced businesses with his leadership and good work ethic of his own.

He was so famous that when he passed away the funeral was strictly for immediate family only as there were justified worries of overcrowding. The funeral being a very Northern affair, no black clothing at the funeral and Lancashire hotpot was served at the wake at the Conservative Club. You can still find forum pages on the football club’s website of people talking about my uncle with very warm words when news of his passing made the local paper.

This legacy of being involved in the local community didn't go away with my uncle's unfortunate passing, for example as mentioned before I have been involved in plenty of charity events in my summers, but the biggest example comes from efforts from my local church. As mentioned I live in an old rural area of the town which turned into a small market village that has seen recent redevelopment and turning rather upper class as footballers and business CEOs moved in. With this a local churchgoer saw an opportunity, as my area lacked a community centre for locals of my village to have large events. So, with the Church’s and communities help he decided to organise a carnival with the intention of raising half a million pounds to build a church hall.

Being a regular member of this church, as an altar boy, then Eucharistic minister, I was more than happy to help along with my family, especially my mother who was on the organising committee. Starting in 2016 the church community started to organise the carnival, securing the local school field for the location and getting large acts, including 1970’s sensation Odyssey to play for the evening (don’t worry I hadn’t heard of them either). Smaller acts such as cover bands were planned for the afternoon, local fairground attractions were more than happy to have their business there along with local street food and arts and crafts vendors. The spirit of the market town is clearly still alive and well in the 21st century and growing out to areas outside the centre.

With that the first carnival was launched and ending very successfully in 2017 we now have a new tradition in the village carrying on the spirit of the market town. The next few years saw larger sponsors, such as Manchester airport, paying for the larger stages and bigger acts. Apart from 2019 thanks to the pandemic there has been a yearly carnival each improving on the last, with the number of helpers ever increasing. My family obviously being an example and with my brother and sister’s partners even getting involved to help. I myself also get involved with setting up, taking down and helping on stage with the acts, I am a cog in a machine for this carnival playing a part in its success along with the other volunteers. With the success came donations and sponsors for the church hall to be constructed, we passed the half a million mark this year and construction began in August.

What to Do in Your Community

So, at this point you may be saying “That’s all very well and good and your town seems like a lovely place to live, but where are you going with this?” Well, my point here was to put forward my anecdotes for what makes a local community a local community. Mine has been around for 700 years, and the virtue is only growing, even with some international immigration. The town is seeing the market area pedestrianised and refurbished in a rustic style, encouraging more local businesses to open. Though with this there are downsides of course, some refurbishment on the market street took the approach of disgusting monstrosities, huge glass only fronts and big businesses opening there, while the option is nice comparing it to photos from the 1800’s does make one nostalgic. However, this is of course my personal taste, and redevelopment of this sort stopped, probably due to funding but no one complained that it stopped. There are still local pubs on the street that keep the aesthetic, and some are official pubs for the local sport team, the local spirit persists despite ever changing businesses and development of the area.

The reason for this is because community is very bottom up, examples in my town are very much about the local businesses. My uncle opened a butcher’s shop, people came from towns miles out just to get their cuts of meat from him as his friendly attitude and good nature was much appreciated by customers. Farmers and market gardeners were everywhere before industrialisation thanks to transport links, though ironically this top-down organisation of the trainlines brought along the industrialisation, though this was again set up by a bottom-up community of local businesses. Even the football teams were created from the bottom up, with small local teams agreeing to merge to grow and make it into the FA cup for years! You could argue that this all stems from a top-down decision, the lords of the 13th century wrote up the town charter to be a free borough, in hopes the trade and tolls from the market and turnpikes would increase his wealth. Though to make the exclusive top-down argument you need to ignore the context of the next 700 years of my town’s history.

To conclude, the top and bottom influence each other to some degree. Where I come from is a market town for a few reasons, the central location and old roads to larger cities making trade incredibly easy. Although the lords and mayors through history have been influencing and encouraging and getting involved in local market affairs, and the community played their part in the expansion of the town, opening businesses, having constructive jobs and keeping the local economy healthy. I can still see this happening today, with the local carnival I help with, the organisers hear constant feedback from carnival goers and volunteers and changes are made to the event constantly such as more bins to reduce litter, free water and food offered to volunteers and better measures made to keep the riff raff out. That is just one example of how you improve a local community, actively be part of it and actively influence it in the ways you see fit. Anyone can do it, just get involved like me and my family did for generations, and you will see your virtues spread and have other virtues spread to you.