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The Power Of Words

27th January is Holocaust Memorial Day.

It’s a day set aside for remembering those lost and affected by the Nazi persecution and Holocaust, as well as those caught up on subsequent genocides in Rwanda, Darfur, Cambodia and Bosnia.

The reason 27th January was chosen for HMD is because it was the date Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated

We decided this would be our first memorial event to first and foremost show support to all those affected by persecution, and pay our respects, and remind ourselves that we are allowed to be different but we are still a community who can work together to do good.

We kept it simple and short but sincere.

We didn’t know if we’d get a good – if any – attendance.

The weather wasn’t great – windy and rainy.

However just before 1pm the rain stopped. 15 of our community joined us, as well as Gavin Newlands MP, and STV News came along.

Feedback of the HMD act of remembrance has been that we as a community want to repeat this as an annual event and build on it as many feel it is important to try to stop hate before it starts.

Obviously when the garden is ready we will move such events to there.

However it doesn’t matter where we hold such events, as long as we take time out to pay our respects, remember those who have been subjected to unbelievable cruelty and do our best to try to keep in mind that the words we speak can cause great positivity but also have the power to cause hurt and pain.

So before we say something let’s remember The Power Of Words .

Release

First of all, Happy New Year!

Didn’t realise it was 25th December a blog was lastly posted.

Apologies for that. It can seem during the Christmas period that days start to flow together.

This is the first week I feel I’m keeping track of what day it is!!

So back to normality. Whatever your version of normal, is.

Release. Did you make New Year Resolutions? I didn’t.

I realised a long time ago, I don’t make resolutions I have any intention of keeping.

I can also make a resolution – or commitment, any day of the week if I really want to.

Resolutions usually are goals we want to achieve to make ourselves feel better or improve ourselves, but do we really need to improve?

Could it be we are enough and our perception is perhaps skewed by others?

I had a Reiki session today. Two hours of it. Not planned but the conversation went into a story I don’t ordinarily share

Suffice to say, a lot of issues of long held self-doubt, lack of confidence, allowing others to have a negative influence, emotions and incidents pushed down and smothered but not expunged, came to the surface this afternoon.

A shift in my self-view has occurred. I even have a feeling of inner peace that was perhaps lacking before.

I know it’s an evolution that will take time but it reminded me how important it is, that we all need to realise we are worthy. No one is useless or inadequate.

We are all unique people capable of so much regardless of what someone else may say.

We may need at times, to step out and take a time out for ourselves. Whether it’s a long walk, or sitting quietly in a peaceful location.

Or trying meditation, reiki, yoga or any other of the holistic therapies available to help our mindfulness.

We’ve been asked if there might be space in the community garden for such classes to be held.

We hadn’t thought of it before but we think it’s a great idea, once the garden is established.

The garden is there for all so why not have holistic therapy available for those who may find it helpful.

It’s been a great year for the community garden project.

If you’ve been with us from the beginning, you’ll know the initial idea was for a memorial garden.

That plan evolved as we conducted surveys, questions and info meetings, to a community garden.

Still holding a memorial area within it but also having places for those looking to have a small growing area; an outdoor classroom for all in education, and an area for meditation, contemplation, yoga, and other holistic energies, and a communal fruit/veg plot for growing our own produce for the community.

Other ideas that have been suggested include a wild garden area, to encourage wildlife, and the possibility of introducing a honey bee colony, to produce local honey, and perhaps looking to take steps towards honey based organic products.

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During our work on the garden project this year, we’ve made fantastic progresses.

We have a management committee, a bank account, and a constitution, as well as formulating a business plan, and taking on training and workshops.

We have a fantastic relationship with Renfrewshire council, who are being extremely supportive and helpful.

We also have great help from Morrisons, The Bridgewater, Steve Blackmore, and Kenmore Tree Surgeons and are always welcoming of anyone who wants to get involved.

We’ve dug up a lot of history dating back to the 1400’s which we will incorporate into the garden to give a sense of the history of the land we live on

We’ve expanded our litter picks.

We've undertaken other projects all related to improving our town and helping its residents.

Now looking forward to 2018

We will have our business case go to the board

We will continue and evolve the litter picks

We will continue taking on other initiatives to help our community.

We will be holding fundraisers for the garden, while keeping our focus on the community.

We will be holding events in the garden site if/when the ground is cleared and deemed safe to do so, so we can all get an idea of how the garden will be a great resource to our community.

We will continue working with TeamUpToCleanUp and Keep Scotland Beautiful

And most importantly we will always support our community and work together as a team.

We will always be grateful for the support our community gives to the work we do.

We never take that support for granted.

Thank You.

We completed our last litter pick of this year on the 19th November.

It was a frosty but dry day. Ten of us including member of Erskine Music Media Studio and regular litter pickers, turned out.

We litter picked the area around Grill In The Park, the telephone exchange, Baptist church, play area, bmx track, and the pathways leading to the bridge to the high school.

26 bags, broken bikes, exercise bike, and various other miscellanea.

Not bad for 2 hours work.

We then headed over to The Bridgewater where Alan and Sharon had invited us to stop by and have lunch. The soup and sandwiches were very much appreciated as it was a very cold day.

Tea and coffee and biscuits were also on offer.

So we finished our litter picks on a high. We’ve completed 20 this year, this our 8th year of litter picks.

On the whole, our work makes a difference. We see that when we find the amount of rubbish is reducing in the areas we visit twice a year.

Places such as the one we completed on the 19th November, that haven’t been done before, have a high yield of bags filled, and the mix of large items – that range from bikes as already stated, to garden shed roof felt and broken garden pots etc. is at its worst.

However we know that going back to this site next year, there will likely be a reduction. Usually not a big one at first, but once people realise we are taking care of an area, the larger dumping lessens and in some areas, stops completely.

The litter also starts to reduce. Whether because we are visiting twice yearly or because people are conscious of the area being cared for, maybe a bit of both.

We have had a small amount of detractors recently.

Some think group litter picks don’t have an impact, waste people’s time, and we don’t get enough volunteers to help.

Well, all I can say to that is, I’m glad we have so many volunteers within our community willing to waste their time to make our town even better and sometimes doing is better than talking 

We’ll continue with our work as we know it does make a difference and our community is happy about what we do and that is all that matter to us.

We’re here for the long haul. We always have been. For everyone who lives in our town, because we care about all of our community, whether that be human, animal or plant 

I don’t think any of us actually like cleaning up after other people but we do want to make Erskine a nice place for all.

Today we were working at Newshot Drive and Kilpatrick Drive. Two main routes in Erskine. Also two of the biggest areas for roadside rubbish.

We worked for 75 minutes, generating 12 bags of rubbish. We could’ve worked longer and if the bushes had been grown back enough, we would likely have filled far more.

We did what we could and we will revisit the area in Spring 2018.

One of the best things about that area, is the view. Fields, river, blue sky, horses, wildlife.

We live in a fantastic part of Scotland. We have so much going for us environment wise but still we feel the need to dump our rubbish.

One of the best things about today was uncovering a drinks den where the users had put their empties into a bag for life! Brilliant!

What if all those who need a drinks den, put their empties into bags for life so we could pick them up when we do a litter pick? Would that make a difference? Would it stop our wildlife getting injured on sharp edges of cans and glass shards, or getting stuck in containers?

We’ve found shredded aluminium cans on Barsail football pitch, and glass shards around the perimeter. We picked them all up because kids fall over and get cut.

It’s not just about rubbish being an eyesore, it does have a realistic danger impact on the wildlife and on us.

No one wants to stop anyone from enjoying themselves.

We just want people to think ahead. Maybe you don’t care about the consequences of your actions. Perhaps you think someone who gets cut on a bottle you broke, was stupid for not having seen it.

However we all have a collective responsibility to each other, whether we like it or not.

That’s what being a community is, and we will continue to work to make the community of Erskine, as safe and enjoyable for everyone.