Global thinking has been a hot topic of conversation in the western suburbs recently with a prominent school encouraging critical thinking in not just a local context.
Whether it’s global thinking or local – there has been a major shift with community being the prominent focus in our local area. Often Facebook is in the news for the wrong reasons but recently this technology has been utilised to start a Buy Nothing City Beach page with 1.5K members and a Community and You (C and U) City Beach and Wembley Downs Community Notice Board with now over 1000 members.
Local City Beach resident Anita Alice McSweeney has been instrumental in the growth of both groups and has recently been awarded Volunteer of the Year (Community Service) at the Town of Cambridge Volunteer Awards Night with Mayor Keri Shannon presenting her well-deserved award on the night.
The Community Notice Board is designed for people to advise others about local events and general community happenings – with people often asking for recommendations about local services or posting about lost pets and neighbourhood watch concerns. The power of social media has been proven time and time again with local people being reacquainted with their belongings and enjoying local events that they were previously unaware of.
The Buy Nothing Project offers members a way to give, share, receive and lend with a focus on gratitude and forming connections with real-life neighbours. “Give where you live” is the mantra, with some of the newly connected members also forming local gardening groups or craft groups within the community. Reuse and recycle has never been as important as it is now to cut down on waste in our society.
If you didn’t know about these groups, they are now in many local areas and are certainly worth joining as they build important community connections within our neighbourhood.
Rob Walker