Hello,
I woke up early with the immediate thought that I hadn’t contacted a particular someone for a while.
So, I did.
‘Someone’ did think it was a bit weird, so early, but replied to my text.
All was good and he was pleased to tell me that he was still sober, over 600 days now.
He said he was hoping to get along to the Sandridge open garden event, which is a lovely garden occasion and a fundraising event for LandWorks, hosted by the Yallop family.
Saturday had been very wet and very windy, Sunday was looking better…
Hundreds of people turned up, many new faces, and a lot of interest in the gardens and LandWorks.
One moment the conversations were moving from discussing how one of our tables had found its way to someone’s house in Tasmania, to next explaining how we get our referrals, and then, much to my surprise, talking about Irene Barclay’s book People Need Roots: The Story of the St. Pancras Housing Association.
Irene Barclay was a pioneering social housing campaigner and the first woman in Britain to qualify as a chartered surveyor. The book recounts the history and work of the St. Pancras Housing Association and its efforts to improve housing conditions in one of London’s poorest districts.
A major theme in the book is that housing affects much more than physical shelter. Stable housing contributes to:
- Mental health.
- Family stability.
- Community participation.
Although Barclay was writing about the early and mid-20th century, there are many similarities to the LandWorks approach today.
And in many ways the garden event captures much of what Irene believed in… that community should be viewed as an asset.
She was interested in what would now be called social capital: the trust, relationships and networks that help communities function.
Seeing so many of our guys at the event, sitting on the beautiful lawns and sharing cream teas with them and their families, and many others, it was good community.
Chris
18th June 2026