My colleague would never sully his clean heels or that of his children with the soil of Diggerland. I've been, as a chaperone, with a group of children who act as young carers who found the whole experience exhilarating and enjoyed it for what it was meant: a treat away from the normal daily grind of their lives spent caring for someone else (carers are often the poorest members of society, with adult carers being forced to give up work and child carers often finding that their education suffers. The health and wellbeing of both can also be badly affected).
There's a buzz term being spun in the circles that I move in, 'social capital'. It's been about for some time (an idea posited by Robert Putnam of Harvard University back in about 1994, and developed with his work with Lew Feldstein from the New Hampshire Foundation). Social capital is critical to how people move on, as evidenced in circles such as old boys networks or in labour rights movements. But it is also very evident in deprived communities. They may not have a great deal financially, educationally etc, but there is often a strong community bond in the social groups that have built up in deprived areas. This can be used to devastating effect (I mentioned Hendon in Sunderland before: here it manifested itself in the local white population turning against the incoming migrant influx that had been placed in local social housing, leading to a belief that resources were being diverted from 'local people' to 'thieving foreigners'). However, it can also be a force for good, witnessed in my day job by the hundreds of local small groups seeking to make life just that little bit better by giving some relief. And if that relief means a trip to Diggerland, then I for one am quite happy to recommend to my donors that they keep stumping up the cash. |
