Dear Friends,

How well do you know your neighbours? BBC’s ‘Breakfast’ has been asked this of a number of communities across the UK this past week; the sad fact is neighbourliness is a thing of the past. Gone are the days when we knew our neighbours by name, said ‘Good Morning’ to people we passed in the street and entrusted the folk next door with our house keys when we went on holiday.

What’s gone wrong? It’s almost impossible to identify any one thing. The disappearance of local points of contact is clearly a factor. In many areas the shop, Post Office, Church, and school have gone. Places where people traditionally met have been taken away; the whole pattern of life has changed.

People commute to work now and few people now walk to work, finding opportunity to converse with folk en route. Now it’s often a lengthy car ride with early start, late return and too little time to spend with family or neighbours.

Where families are concerned, weeknights are taken up with the gadgets of the modern age: TVs, computers, and all the paraphernalia that go with them, and weekends are taken up with all the activities available for the youngsters.

The perception that has been fostered over recent years that our communities are no longer safe places means we increasingly keep ourselves to ourselves! Our neighbourhoods lack the thing that should be their hallmark – neighbours!

esus said there were only two commandments that mattered – Love God and love you neighbour. We need to do better at both!

Gerald Gardiner     Robert Fisher