I've had this in mind, and conversation for the last few days, and realised not a lot of people know it exists.
Barter system,basically. Our Dept is having an evening soon, and the ad looks like this (hope I did that right-first time).
Basically, everyone has something that somebody else wants... money never changes hands, and, you find really down to earth, sound people. An hour of your time cleaning the windows of the lady nextdoor may yield you a crop of apples.... give a few beetroots to a nearby plumber, and he'll fix that leak in your canalisation.
Anybody taken part in this?
ahh, the "can do" attitude. Love that, and not a lot of towns and villages have that. It's community spirit that keeps things going.
Youth hanging about intimidating people at night will happen in plenty of places, and, hopefully, if the police step up, it can be stomped out.
Stroud has a lot going for it. They have the best farmers' market in the UK, apart from Borough Market in London.
It is on the edge of the Cotswolds and close to Bristol and Bath. Property in Stroud is cheaper than the "picture postcard" Cotswolds, as it has an industrial heritage, lots of mills for weaving cloth. The British army's scarlet cloth was dyed and woven in Stroud. Also, the lawn mower was invewnted there by Edward Budding.
Today Damian Hirst has his workshop there, because there is a foundry specialising in casting large artistic bronzes.
Having said all this, it has its probelms, youth violence in the evenings in the town centre, litter and a definite lack of parking. It has very little good shopping, full of pound shops and charithy shops.
May I recommend Nailsworth it's neighbour. Free parking and lots of wonderful specialist shops, restaurants and a really "can do" attitude.
The more I've looked into Stroud, the more i seem to want to live there. I live in Thones, in the 74. Halfway between Lake Annecy, and the Aravis ski stations
Stroud is a very "green" and alternative town and it works well there.It has been operating for a long time. Where do you live?
I've already looked it up, it's quite inspiring. If say, the greengrocer, and other local services, like plumber, funeral director, whatever took them too, it would seriously make a huge difference.
Where people lose a LOT of money these days is bank charges with cheques, credit cards, and the rest. Thanks for getting me onto this, Jane. I intend to find out as much as I can about it, and try encourage similar.
I think hyou can probably look it up on the net. I think you put out what you wanted done and how much you would pay in "Strouds". I think people did straight barters as well. the local bookshop took "Strouds".
sounds like what we need. It sort of depends on the mentality of the people in the area though, if I tried to implement a barter system in the village I grew up in, there would be nothing bout bickering. "John only gave me 6 eggs, but he gives Nancy 9 every time, when SHE walks his dogs."
with something like Stroud pounds, are you keeping tabs on "the amount of favour given"?
In Stroud, where we used to live, there is a barter system called Stroud Pounds, which can be exchanged for produce or a service etc.