Christmas: Community & Togetherness
“I’d like to make it a message of gratitude to everyone we’ve met this year, and a reminder to everyone reading this that you are not on your own. “
Hello everyone, IT’S CHRISTMAS! Insert obligatory jingle bells and Santa noises and promotion of Mariah Carey/Michael Buble/another-Christmas-legend-of-your-choice here. I can practically hear Slade yelling back at me now. I hope everyone is feeling suitably prepared for the festive season, whether you’ve doubled-down on Scrooge-esque Christmas disdain or accepted the inevitable and jumped on board the Christmas train (complete with Polar Express level hot chocolate and merriment). I always wonder at what point in the year we cross into the world of festive cheer, or at least what point it becomes socially acceptable, because it seems to ping around each year. In all honesty, I climb aboard in late October, ready to put a tree up as soon as the clock strikes midnight on October 31st and November comes knocking. Perhaps that’s too early but what are they going to do? Shoot me?
“Bob Geldorf can’t re-record Band Aid and wipe away our problems.”
For me, early festive feelings come not from an obsession with the ‘corporate Christmas’; overpriced markets and drinks at Starbucks and the hallmarks of a Hallmark Christmas movie that inevitably cost hundreds of pounds. No, my love for the Christmas season comes from the fact that it is, or should be, a time of the year where we come together to celebrate, feel joyful, and lean on one another in the most wonderful way possible. Christmas, whether you actively celebrate it or not, is a time that brings out the most wonderful things in people. Neighbours, who never speak, drop cards into each other’s letterboxes, families, who spent summer apart, gather together in the warmth of one lounge. We get gifts for people that we have no business spending money on, and fritter away our evenings on late night walks, or mulled wine meetings, or coffee catch-ups with someone that we haven’t seen in months because why not, it’s almost the end of a year and I don’t want to end it without speaking to you. God. Isn’t that just gorgeous? Christmas is, above all else, a time of love. Even for an emotionally stunted Englishwoman, that’s enough to bring a tear to an eye.
This year has been a hard one. That’s undeniable. We’re in a cost of living crisis, nosediving straight for a recession. The climate is warming up to near explosion, nations across the world are gripped by war, and illness, and a whole marvel of other delightfully destructible issues. Across the world, it’s estimated that 685 million people are still living in extreme poverty. Right now in the UK, 14.5 million people are estimated to live in poverty. 4.3 million of them are children. By 2023, just one month away, the Resolution Foundation predicts that 1.3 million people in the UK will be plunged into absolute poverty (less than 60% of median income in 2010/11). This is not a pretty picture. And we can’t sugar coat that with candy canes and jolly men with white beards in sleighs. Bob Geldorf can’t re-record Band Aid and wipe away our problems. For many this year, the high costs associated with Christmas will push them into an even harder situation than they’re already in. The pressure to get involved with the festivities coupled with these high spends will have a drastically detrimental affect on their mental health.
“…perhaps it’s just my festive spirit, but I think the way people’s mindsets are starting to change is a wonderful sign of progress.”
But I don’t want to talk about the costs of Christmas. That’s not what this post is about. Instead, I’d like to make it a message of gratitude to everyone we’ve met this year, and a reminder to everyone reading this that you are not on your own.
Over the last 12 months, the scope of what Haywire has been working on has exploded. We’ve built up our networks, levelled-up the scale of our projects, and properly planned our aims for the legacy and impact of the company. We’ve worked with people who want for nothing, and people who want for everything. People who will never interact in their lives, and have minimal to no understanding of the other person’s day to day. The uniting factor between them? They’re all people. And while they live very different lives, and as such have been affected in vastly different ways but recent developments in the social and economic changes happening at the moment, they’re all consciously aware of the fact that the world is becoming harder and we’re going to need to lean on one another more and more as time goes on. It’s very easy to fall into believing the rhetoric that the country is more divided than ever, that we’re becoming overly protective, or capitalistic, in our tendencies, and that we’re running out of impetus to care about other people. In actuality, from what I’ve observed in the communities we work in, the exact opposite is happening. People are banding together to support one another, to pull their friends and family through a crisis that is entirely unprecedented. Everyone is more socially minded, and whether you have the money to support or not our minds are turning towards the world of community support. Even if you don’t put anything in, we all clock the food bank collection point at Tescos and Sainburys more than we would’ve before. Now, don’t get me wrong, would it be even better if those thoughts of community support could translate into monetary contributions? Absolutely. But those choices take time, and until the general public is ready to make them it’s the job of our government to provide funds to support in their stead. And yet, and perhaps it’s just my festive spirit, but I think the way people’s mindsets are starting to change is a wonderful sign of progress.
“It’s a clear example of how, when we come together, especially in the face of great adversity, we do incredible things. “
The cliche of Christmas is that it’s a time of giving and joy. And that won’t be as true as we would like it to be for many people this year. But even so, I think it’s important that we celebrate the little achievements along the way, and give credit to those community leaders and heroes that are already making incredible progress. I’ve been inspired and electrified (in a good way) by the work that Well-Fed, Mind, Outside Lives and all of our creative community partners have been putting forward this year, and in particular their resilience in the face of increasingly insidious government policy. It’s energising to watch the public jump feet-first into a project like that which we’ve been running in North Wales, and encouraging to see the sheer amount of talent on display from every writer and actor that’s submitted or been involved in Pocketfull. Fringe this year was a testament of the incredible ingenuity of the arts sector, with more artists than ever putting on incredible work with tighter pursestrings than we’re normally used to (and when it comes to fringe theatre, that’s saying something). All of this - all of it - is a demonstration of our ability to pull together and reinvent our work like never before, push it to new places, work with new people. It’s a clear example of how, when we come together, especially in the face of great adversity, we do incredible things. And that’s the feeling that I’d like to celebrate this December.
If you’re doing well this Christmas, I encourage you to look outwards. Take that dispensable time, or resources, and invest them in strengthening the world around you. Whatever that means for you. If you’re an artist, keep creating, and growing, and building yourself. Your strength is incredible and truly inspiring. I look forward to seeing what you bring next year. And if you’re struggling this month, we stand with you. Reach out, lean on your networks, whether that’s us, or your friends, or family, or surrounding community. I guarantee that you will find you’re less alone than you think.
Happy Christmas everybody. Here’s to celebrating a year survived, and a new one to face head on. Let’s do it together.
Lucy x