After Corona? - COMMUNITY

The Possibility Club

Wherever you are, what is around you? And who is around you? Who is your tribe, and has that changed in the past year? In every single episode of this After Corona? series of podcasts, contributors have spoken of a change to their sense of community. There are clichés of the Blitz Spirit, or more nuanced takes on business being more in tune with food banks; teachers and parents having a more shared understanding about how learning works; politicians acknowledging the power of grassroots togetherness around topics that matter. We don’t know what your experience of the pandemic has been, but chances are you’ve had to look at your communities in a new light. Friends you’ve missed, local businesses you’ve tried out for the first time, studying the data on how your area is doing and what is being said about. Richard Freeman, always possible's CEO, has over the last year been collecting audio testimony from people across the UK. These podcasts are a moment in time of how people, in the thick of it, all have been feeling at different points in lockdown, and what they think the future is going to look like. In this episode, we are simply looking at community. Two faith leaders, just 70 miles apart. Father Oliver Coss, from All Saints Church in Northampton and Dr Catherine Okoronkwo from All Saints & St Barnabas Church in Swindon. The director of a public, private partnership looking at the economy, regeneration and skills in Coastal West Sussex, Caroline Wood. Ryan Huttley, a youth worker in Essex - and Ben Clench an old friend of mine and past podcast interviewee, also a speaker and writer on his past decade recovering from a traumatic brain injury and relying on the NHS. Some of these contributions are from a year ago, some six months, some more recent - painting a picture of what was surprising, and what wasn’t, about the way people rallied around one another at different stages of the pandemic. What aspects of our new approaches to community to we want to keep? --- Useful links: - http://www.allsaintsnorthampton.co.uk/ - http://allsaintsstbarnabas.org.uk/ - https://youth.essex.gov.uk/ - https://coastalwestsussex.org.uk/ - https://www.benclench.co.uk/ --- For more information on how you can get involved with The Possibility Club – an inclusive community of professionals working out what’s next, have a look here > www.thepossibilityclub.org You can also receive Finding Chances, a free weekly letter from Richard Freeman, looking behind-the-scenes at business, culture, community and education by signing-up at www.findingchances.substack.com/ We’d love to know what you think of this podcast. Please review and share your responses to this podcast on your favourite podcast platform. This is an always possible podcast. The interviewer was Richard Freeman for always possible and the producer was Chris Thorpe-Tracey for Lo Fi Arts.