Strength lies in community spirit
Applications for Somerset’s Village of the Year are still open. We visited one of the villages receiving multiple nominations to find out what makes Martock such a popular contender.
Amere stone’s-throw away from our current Village of the Year title holders, Kingsbury Episcopi, is the notso-sleepy village of Martock. The village has received many nominations for Somerset’s Village of the Year, and could be one of this year’s big contenders for the title.
As we arrived to meet Louise Clarke (district and parish councillor for Martock), Lou Chant (youth development officer for Martock), and Jonathan Swabey (member of Martock Community Group) it was clear that this village was a hive of activity with people bustling up and down the streets.
Although there were some stunning old buildings in Martock, there were many newer ones which don’t often spring to mind when you think of a traditional village. Jonathan acknowledged this: “It is interesting how you can evaluate the niceness or the goodness of a village... because you know it’s quite ugly some of the places here.
“There are some very beautiful Hamstone houses down the bottom of the village which look gorgeous in the sunlight, but it’s not about that, it’s about the people and the effort that goes into making it a great place to live. A village is not in the size or the complexity of it, it’s in the spirit of the people that live there really.”
And Martock’s strength definitely lies in its sense of community spirit which is a concern not only for the older members of the village, but is a very active concern for the younger inhabitants of Martock as well.
Both Louise and Lou were particularly proud of Martock’s Youth Parish Council. Lou described the youth council as “highly-functioning” while Louise mentioned how “dedicated” the young members were to making changes within the village, including attending planning meetings for new builds in the village.
Lou: “We’ve got a group of young people who will represent all the young people of Martock and they also deal with issues that may be affecting young people. At the moment they are concerned with looking at the environment and how things are being affected by development.”
The facilities in the village to allow members to have a voice are multiple. The Martock Job Club provides assistance to those looking for work or seeking benefits advice, the Wednesday Group provides an uplifting and sociable environment to those unable to work so they have somewhere to enjoy themselves, the Youth Club is constantly active with fundraising, and the village has an intimidating list of social clubs.
Louise said: “Martock is very rare in the services it provides for its community- the parish council will work so hard and there are so many services supplied that are a benefit for the people of this community. And that is the joy of Martock, we’ve got such a good community spirit, everybody joins in when it’s needed everyone joins together. Martock people always seem to be about giving.”
In the past, the people of Martock have arranged street parties to celebrate, and encourage growth of, their rare local Martock bean. They have also rallied to build a replacement Santa’s sleigh when the local fire service was unable to continue with the traditional Santa’s trip around the village. Since bringing the tradition back the sleigh has managed to raise over £15,000 for charity.
Tradition, community, and giving seem to be the cornerstones of village life for Martock and these are some of the qualities that make our rural communities integral to the spirit of Somerset.
Applications for Somerset’s Village of the Year are still open. If you think your village could be the next one to be crowned go to www.bit.ly/ SVOTY2020 to fill in the nomination form.