POLITICS AS A MORAL DUTY

We were enthused by parts of Chancellor Gordon Brown's speech at at the Labour party Conference. The Right Honourable Gordon Brown, who could be the next Prime Minister, shares our hopes and aspirations with regard to community values. For instance, here are some extracts from his speech;

"And after eight years - when we are doing more than any government to widen opportunity, doing more to invest in our communities – we know also that we are as yet today a Britain of still too little opportunity, a Britain of still too little responsibility, a Britain of still too little community.

Parents struggling amidst an even faster pace of change to balance work and family life, young people with wider horizons than ever wanting in business, education, sport and the arts, more chances and choices to make more of themselves; as Tessa Jowell and Patricia Hewitt have said, women wanting this to be the generation where the promise of equality is finally and fully realized; citizens yearning for a stronger sense of community, free from the fear of crime and with the power to improve the quality of life in their area, people seeking new ways to engage, have their voices heard and build trust in our local and national life; across differences of race and religion men and women seeking a stronger foundation for community relations.

People for whom we, this generation’s Labour party, have to find modern answers, meeting rising individual aspirations – the new twenty first century individualism – while also – and this is the new twenty first century citizenship – showing how a supportive community can empower and enable so that people can realise their potential as individuals and make a contribution to community life.

Britain no longer defined and diminished by the divisive ideology of them and us, of something for nothing, that denied Britain a shared national purpose and stripped away our sense of community. Britain no longer defined and weakened by the centralisation that forgot we are both individuals and neighbours. No longer ‘the grab what you can’ glorification of everyone for himself, no such thing as society’ which told people to ask only what they could get for themselves.

And I will also champion community ownership of local assets and so that people who want change can secure that change community petitions to trigger action.  And in that spirit of devolution I want to work with the lottery so that for even the smallest community, local budgets for local community facilities can be voted on by local people

Reflect for a moment on the talent wasted, the loss of what might have been, the great music never composed, the great art never created, the great science never invented, the great books never written.

And if in this generation we neglect the potential of still too many of our children, if we do not learn from past mistakes and again write off the talents of still too many young people, think of the individual dreams unfulfilled, the hopes dashed, the ambitions crushed, the potential wasted."

It is for these reasons that the Friends of Elvaston was formed. We too, can see the benefits of a stronger community, in control of its own destiny, taking the opportunities created by  the wider horizons which can be achieved by social inclusion and the awareness of the needs of our friends and neighbours. We have always maintained that this goal can be achieved  by running the Elvaston Estate as a not-for-profit community trust, able to draw together and combine all of the various needs and requirements of the community, the trust supporting the community and the community supporting the trust. The Friends Forward Plan, which can be accessed from the index on the left of this page, sets out our vision for the future of the Elvaston Estate.

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