Countryside Communities Under Threat - Cornish Village fights back

Well you have to hand it to them. Many people complain about the impact on their village of the loss of their post office, pub, school or other focus of the community. But the residents of Lanreath in Cornwall did much more than complain, they took concerted actions.

In Monday's BBC2 "Power to the People" series, we saw the invasion of Islington Green by a small Cornish village protesting at the closure of its treasured school. This was the final straw following the demise of their post office, pub, shop and dairy farm. So they transported a cross section of the village to the centre of London, including a few cows, sheep and the morris dancers, all coordinated by the WI with help from the BBC reporter.

Sadly their protest fell on deaf government ears but the effort mobilised the community of Lanreath to the extent that they then successfully re-opened their local pub and post office as community projects. There was a strong message in here to any villager feeling they are powerless to perpetuate the village way of life.

For anyone interested in fighting to rescue their local pub from the threat of closure, see this earlier post How to Save Your Community Pub.

Today's pub walk: The Beaulieu Road Inn in The New Forest, Hants.

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