This May saw Haslingfield’s Parish Council do something different for their Annual Public Meeting – instead of an invited speaker, they asked representatives of all the parish’s groups and societies to give little presentations of what we all do. Harlton already does this every year, and H&H Eco were invited to speak at both. I found it all very inspiring – there is so much, from the Parish Councils themselves to the Brownies, from the Little Theatre to the Community Car Scheme, from the Connexions Youth Bus to the Allotments, from the Gardening Club to the Cricket, going on in our villages! And almost all of it organised and carried out by volunteers. Add in our shop and café, the community owned Hare and Hounds, the pop-up coffee shop run by the Methodist Church, and now the monthly Haslingfield Market, and we can honestly say we are holding onto, and maybe even improving, our self-sufficiency as a community. And this feels very important to me right now. The government has recently released two reports highlighting our vulnerability as a nation to global events – like climate change and ongoing conflicts – which threaten our security. The Fourth Climate Change Risk Assessment, released May 2026, warns that “the British way of life is increasingly at risk from escalating heat, flooding and drought… without stronger action, overheating homes, rising river flows and severe water shortages will intensify by mid‑century.” While the December 2025 Defra Food Security Report highlights risks to our food system, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and reliance on imports. It emphasizes the need for increased resilience in the food system to ensure sustainable food production for the future.
All the groups in the village, whether they provide amenity or practical services, bring people together, or just help people live satisfying and sustainable (in the widest sense of that word) lives, are doing their bit to increase resilience – our ability to cope with the risks we face over the next months and years. That’s our focus too, and we are especially proud of the help we are able to provide to groups like the Little Owls (helping with the excess from their Jumble Sales, and inviting them to provide fundraising refreshments at some of our events), the Scouts and Cubs (running biodiversity sessions) and the Parish Councils (providing research and policy advice and volunteers to help with some of the green spaces). All of our events have resilience in mind – whether its helping people to learn new skills like scything (useful when petrol prices rise!), or to access repairs for their small appliances with our annual repair café. These things show us that we are not helpless, despite threats to democracy or the natural world. There are so many skills and so much ability in our own little sphere. So do join us at one of the wonderful events we have coming up and celebrate our community resilience! You can find out about all our events on our Whats On pages: https://www.hheco.co.uk/whatson
