Please see the following review:

A Snapshot of Rural Britain            Reviewed by James Derounian

100 memories, 100 visions    Editors: Schuhle-Lewis, J & Berry, J

ruralnet UK      ISBN 978-0-9557715-0-7      softback, Pontefract Press, Nov. 2007

What a great idea, “gather together 100 people, pencils and paper and give them a subject they care deeply about – rural Britain”. The result is a fascinating and arresting collection of cameos penned in 8-minutes by a diverse set of authors – from Scotland, England, Wales & Northern Ireland. Also representative of the voluntary, public and private sectors; and spanning interests across the spectrum – village halls, community regeneration, young farmers, MIND and older people.

In the foreword, Professor Mark Shucksmith notes that the “real richness and value comes from the text presenting and clebrating the voices of people who live in rural Britain today”. Many contributors hark back to an idyllic childhood & ‘paradise lost’, while others remember hard times. Sue Greenhow illustrates the first perspective: “The beauty of the village remains but the heart of the community who lived & worked there has been lost…” (page 7). By contrast Corinne Mathews recalled how she and her farmer husband “worked an eighty hour week” (42).

There are many up-to-date entries: “I’d had a hard week….working on the Parish Plan and preparing for a workshop” (p.21). The text is lavishly and carefully accompanied by evocative and memorable colour photos and images of people, landscapes and objects – many with a very contemporary ‘edge’ – a flooded car, a wind turbine and ‘keep out’ signs. The visions are an eclectic mix too – an 83 year old in Shropshire “using a web cam to talk to a Citizen’s Advice Bureau adviser”; or Karen Higgins’ dream of a community in which “schools and older people work together on an organic food allotment” (36).

Some of the observations about the countryside are lyrical and timeless – “What I still do not understand is why the moon can sometimes be seen as big as a dustbin lid and at other times as small as a tiny saucer” (Brian Lewis p.44). I’m with you there Brian!

To add my own ‘eight minute wonder’ I recall my encounter, as a fresh-faced 20-something countryside officer in Devon, with the 70+ year old chair of the parish council. As we shook hands, Alf Howard invited me to see the playing field that he had just bought for the village (Down St Mary in mid-Devon), plus accompanying cottages. We were the first people to enter those houses for at least half a century! And there – on the dirt floor was a pinch-necked lemonade bottle with marble glass stopper. When Alf demonstrated how you sealed it by up-ending the bottle (so the stopper wedged in the neck) he handed it to me, adding “keep it”….it now sits on our window sill in rural Gloucestershire (as a wonderful reminder of a wonderful gentle-man). And as we exited one of the derelict cottages I happened to mention that my wife and I were looking for somewhere. Without hesitation he said “you can buy one of these and do it up….we can sort out the finances later”. This is my memory and vision for rural communities that they recapture such generosity of giving and spirit.

A Snapshot of Rural Britain presents just that - a delightful, touching and affectionate portrait of rural life– pa st, present and future. A delightful Christmas ‘stocking-filler’ or present for anyone interested in the countryside. And it speaks an accessible language that umpteen policy documents and statistical summaries do not!