Only an Irish village could boast such a strapline. Courtmacsherry is a small village with a population of 590 situated on the south side of Courtmacsherry Harbour in County Cork. Its population does increase in summer months through tourism but it is rarely crowded, except perhaps when it is in the midst of a festival.
Courtmacsherry is not the only village with such a vibrant community spirit. Every little village seems to have a festival when it puts on an array of events. Of particular interest to my grandson Aidan is the Kilbrittain Tractor run when more than a 100 tractors parade round the local area making quite a sight as well as a great deal of noise. Also of note is the annual platform dance where locals turn up to dance in the open air overlooking the bay on a late July evening.
I often wonder who has the energy to organise all these activities for they don’t just happen by themselves; and they are always very well supported and raise substantial sums for the Local GAA or other worthy causes. Certainly these programmes add to the vibrancy of local life and everyone seems to be included in one way or the other. It reminds me of "Gala day" in the small Yorkshire towns when I was growing up. Isolation and loneliness are one of the scrooges of modern day life and the community spirit of these small villages certainly help to bring people together.
On a wider scale, a Royal Wedding brings a lot of the public together and the dress and the service will be a common topic of conversation all around the land for days to come. But in truth, very few events will bring together the whole population of a City for a common purpose. These community events can be a great boost for the human spirit. In Liverpool, football is a great gatherer of reds and blues and the majority of the population will be rooting for a Liverpool Champions League Cup final victory whatever their local allegiance. Some Evertonians will undoubtedly disagree with this statement but it will give them the chance to complain at the same time as the reds are celebrating. And as a blue, I for one admit that the reputation of our city is enhanced by the publicity this all gives us.
But as our great River Festivals show, football is not the only community game in town. I have been reading a book about the building of Liverpool Cathedral. It is an amazing story of community enterprise and a triumph of hope against adversity. The fact is that the vision of a small committee, who dared in 1903 to engage a 22 year old architect to build and design an incredible building, succeeded beyond their wildest dreams even though none of them were alive to see it completed some 75 years later. It is even more amazing that no government or Church of England money went into the costs of erection of the largest Christian building in the UK, the largest Anglican Building in the world, with the largest musical instrument and the heaviest peal of bells.
It was built with the contributions of the rich and the poor to be a place not just for the Anglican worshipping community but to be used by all the people of the City and beyond. Its strapline of being a safe place to do risky things is as true today as it has ever been. This great awe inspiring building is a statement by people of faith that our community is alive and well. Yes there is always more to be done to cure the symptoms of isolation and loneliness and overcome poverty; but the things we do together for the common good are no less important than the events contributing the Courtmacsherry Harbour Festival. Long may we try to build up our common life for that really does bring health and wellbeing for our people. Our firm’s summer party on Friday demonstrated that a spirit of togetherness is important to any successful organisation as well as our community at large.