Morris dancing, Su Doku, .22 rifle clubs, model railways have their day and pass away. And nobody is he worse for it. Each enthusiasm is an opportunity to look over the wall and experiment. The Montgolfier brothers took to the skies in 1783 in the pursuit of their latest interest. So did the Wright brothers. The Stephensons took to the rails. And the whole world has benefited.
The list is endless: pigeon-fancying, hawking, metal-detecting, messing about in boats. A craze maybe has swept through one village and moved off to the next, leaving solitary survivors perhaps who will sustain their new interest for a decade or two. So it used to be.
This happened with religious groups. A parish church that staged a mission – i.e. a week or month of shop-window and other events – introduced a new aspect of life through a mission preacher, and congregations ballooned. The digital age transformed local initiative of that kind. The mission personality was available on the media. The novelty element was missing.
Local loyalties centred on sport prospered. Muscle and team-work received recognition on a regular level and led to national levels of performance. Local churches found themselves rated on a level with secular hobby activity. Only in remote places did churches continue their active role in shaping community activity. There was still much to ensure the survival of the craze. Eye-openers became more accessible. Paint-ball and re-enactment events became popular. The year 1991 saw the inauguration of the National Association for Re-enactment Societies.
The parish, with its vicar, its war memorial, its churchyard, its maypole, has had a commanding view of English life for centuries. That has changed – abruptly – and so must we. But we must be careful what we are forfeiting as we do so.
FLITCH
Every four years Dunmow, Essex parishioners award a prize for marital harmony. This custom has a long and varied history, is mentioned by William Langland. An entrant to the trial has to show that he has spent a year and a day without any brawling.
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