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A Constellation of Tong
Longhouse
Action Research Commission
2007
- 2008
In collaboration with Kate Hadley
You
won’t see me at village barbecues - it gives me
a hemmed in feeling, and takes me back to my schooldays.
I like to have my chat on the road and see people in passing,
and there are the various things that go on that I will
become involved in.
Ross Crockford, Walled Garden Project, Tong.
The village has been emasculated by the removal of
all stock. The stock gave pattern to the land. A field
of golden cattle on one side, a field of black on the
other. It was beautiful.
Joan Bates, Tong.
For this action research project I collaborated with Kate
Hadley to explore the rural village of Tong and understand
the residents’ sense of community and place. Tong
is a village steeped in history and is part of a 17th
century estate that once belonging to the Bradford family,
the biggest landowners in the country. We were both used
to living in either big towns or cities and our notion
of community was centred on the connection of like-minded
people rather than being based around our neighbours where
we lived. The Longhouse action research commission gave
us the space to explore and creatively reflect upon how
individuals from the village see their own connection
with both the village and the countryside, and consider
how this might differ to our own experience of community.
What began to emerge from our encounters with local people
were very different perceptions of what community means.
Perceptions ranged from a sense that community is 'long
gone' in this area, to the understanding it is still vibrant
and strong. Ross Crockford underlines what many people
think when she says that:
The groups of people within the village now are so
diverse and every household has got its own life. When
I first lived here, and the first ten years of living
here, we all worked on the same level, 99 percent of us
worked on the estate. It was very community orientated
and we got along together. It has changed in the way that
people now are getting on with their own life, and don’t
really see the need for that community.
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The
image of a constellation resonated with what
we felt about the presence of community in Tong,
where many individuals do become connected and
bound together in many different ways, but also
reflects the increasing degree of separateness
that results from our heavily mediated ‘I’
focused lives. Some people lamented that the
change was towards 'the separate life' and how
it requires an enormous amount of energy from
a few motivated individuals to hold the idea
of community together in any visible way.
We met many different people as part of this
project, 5 of which directly participated: David
Dixon, a retired business man who has the talent
of dowsing for water which he kindly taught
us; Joan Bates, a feisty 80 year old woman who
for many years ran the livery stables in the
village and retired only a couple of months
ago; Beryl, a retired cancer nurse who’s
husband loaded the guns for Lord Bradford; Roz
Crockford, who runs the Walled Garden where
young people with difficult issues in their
lives find some sanctuary; and John Murfin,
a retired business man who is heavily involved
in the parish council. Each of these people
had a very different perception of the community
in which they live.
One of our main challenges for this action research
project was how to collaboratively work together
to creatively explore and respond to the theme
of community in Tong village. During this research
we produced many photographs, drawings, videos
and sound files that reflected both our engagement
with participants and captured many different
impressions of the area.
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