The London County Council was involved in the design and the building of New Towns about 25 miles out from the center of London in the late fifties and early sixties.
I was fortunate to be part of the New Towns Section for the County for several years as an Architect/Planner.
We were involved in the “decanting” of people from London to communities that we had designed and built, some around existing villages and where these new families could come to work and to live and become part of a “new culture.”
I haven't thought of the concept of building a new culture perhaps for about half a century until I heard someone use that term at a meeting only yesterday, where those involved in this meeting have actually begun to build “a new culture” right here in Shorewood.
Some of these people live in Shorewood, some work in Shorewood and some provide service to people in Shorewood. Each either has her own concept of that new culture or is on the edge of its formation.
At the core of this new culture is the fulfillment of the needs of people as they become “elderly.”
This group, Shorewood's Connecting Caring Communities Partnership, is beginning to build a new culture around the elderly of our community. SCCCP is in the process of building a new over-all consciousness. It has begun by using existing entities and services and developing new and initial methods for bringing the elderly into active participation. This will provide a new sense of belonging that also will more readily allow the elderly to accept assistance from a care-giving community. These are my observations and interpretations.
There is a long list of those already involved, working quietly and at some point will be duly recognized. They are only beginning to build this community within the village and have been enthusiastically active for months.
It is within this activity of building a new culture that they are developing the nucleus in which all of us living in Shorewood will eventually become a part. For we cannot honor our fathers and mothers without the whole involvement of community. And this is what this group has set out to do and I'm sure will accomplish.
