THE CORONATION AND THE VILLAGE
By LADY ALLEN OF HURTWOOD
THE Coronation gives an occasion, long needed and long desired, for concentrating attention on restoring some of the corporate village life that is insidiously disappearing under the influence of encroaching industrialism. The balance of village life has been upset by factors all too obvious ; the uncertain agricultural situation and the resulting drift towards the towns ; the conversion of the village street into a highroad for through traffic ; the closing of village schools, with the consequent loss of another focal point of corporate activity. All these factors and many others tend to disperse pride in the village, the unity of which becomes nobody's business. It ought to be somebody's business. At the moment it is the business of the Coronation Planting Com- mittee,* as one amongst its many activities, to aim at restoring in some part with the help of older and well established societies a vigorous and definite social core to village life. Coronation festivities bring together in their preparation and celebration every individual in the village, and there will be many delightful transitory schemes of decoration. If simultaneously, action could be taken to improve the general appearance of the village, permanent and fruitful co-operation might easily be effected by the formation of Village Amenity Councils, where they do not already exist.
The work of making the village what it should be to look at and live in falls into three categories : the effort of the individual ; the creation of something new that will add to the amenity of the village as a whole ; and, lastly, the united effort to remove existing eyesores which, if allowed to remain, would destroy the value of the other two.
The beauty of cottage gardens is probably the most impor- tant single factor which gives character to English villages.
• 68 Victoria Street, Westminster. While attention to these is solely a matter for the individual householder, interest can be greatly stimulated by the organisa- tion of garden competitions, as has been done with such conspicuous success in Gloucestershire, and by co-operation in the purchase and choice of seeds and plants. The local horticultural society can also play an invaluable part by holding lectures, demonstrations and flower-shows. Many villages still maintain the pleasant custom of establishing an overflow garden immediately outside their boundaries, and the publiC has respected and appreciated this communal effort which adds so much to the beauty of the wayside. Unfortunately, the effect of many beautiful gardens is often considerably lessened by a drab cottage built in a material and style conflicting with local tradition. Cottages cannot be pulled down and rebuilt to suit the gardens, but they can often be cleaned up and brightened at little cost by a coat or two of colour-wash in light pastel shades.
It is idle to generalise upon suitable forms of permanent commemoration ; each village must select its scheme according to its own needs, and in consonance with its setting and surroundings. Tree-planting in some form or other will undoubtedly play a large part in 1937. The Coronation Planting Committee hope that villages will plant not one tree only but a clump, avenue or spinney, and that they will make their selection from the many lesser-known but very beautiful types. There are many possibilities—an avenue of tulip trees, a little wood of luidambers, groups of flowering cherries, crabs and thorns. Individual villages might adopt some special tree as a " theme " for their com- memorative planting, such as apricots, magnolias or a selection of Japanese cherries, of which there are such a host of lovely varieties. The experiment of planting fruit trees along the rural roads has not been extensively tried in this country. If such a scheme were adopted it is confidently belieied that damage to the trees could be averted through the generous co-operation of the national and local Press, the good offices of Broadcasting House and of school teachers. The most suitable trees to plant are those which require little pruning and are not prone to disease.
Every village should have an open space where people can walk or sit and enjoy their leisure. This space will, in many cases, be the village green. When this does not exist or has been squeezed out, it is generally possible to make it again a part of village life. Wisely planted it can be once more the centre of the outdoor social life of the community. The unsightliness of most allotments is notorious ; they, too, by careful designing and planting, could become places of beauty. Then there are Playparks for young children, an important section of the community that is often forgotten, although schemes may be afoot for providing playing-fields for the adolescent and adult. A feature of these suggested Playparks is a quiet garden for mothers and older people where they may rest and yet be near their playing children. The case for such parks is, even in remote villages, strengthened by the danger and noise of through motor traffic. Playing-fields can be made more attractive, bowling-greens and swimming-pools con- structed, churchyards and the land round public buildings agreeably laid out Attention to such matters as litter control, disposal of house-refuse, redundant advertisements, petrol-filling stations and electric power lines, produces a visible and welcome reward.
With the object of urging villages to adopt these schemes so that village life may be rebuilt into a complete whole, the Committee I have mentioned is promoting village and inter-village competitions in three forms throughout Great Britain ; one, for the best individual garden in each village ; another for the village in each county with the best general display of flowers in gardens and elsewhere ; and a third (not to be decided till 1938) for the village in each county carrying out the best scheme for enhancing village amenity as a permanent memorial of the Coronation. As compared with a few years ago the nation has become anxiously alive to the dangers that threaten the beauty of the country. Now comes an opportunity, provided by the Coronation cele- brations, not merely to preserve that beauty but to increase and extend it. It may thus fall to the countryside to per- petuate the memory of the Coronation in the best of all ways.
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