I only moved to Shepley a couple of years ago. I haven’t had much opportunity to participate in local activity, partly due to working full time, and partly due to the Covid restrictions. But the Village Association really fires up the social life of the village. They organised a Halloween event, promoted it on the village Facebook group and put up posters. There were prizes donated by local businesses. The people who join in with local events are as important as the organisers – they go hand in hand to make things a success.
My son and I created a zombie with blood dripping down the cheeks from an old vacuum cleaner. We watched a tutorial on YouTube on how to do the make-up and we put it in the front garden. This became a really nice family activity over a series of weekends, and it felt like we were part of the preparations for something bigger with those who live around us.
At Halloween, an amazing number of people, especially families, came out to walk around the village to look at their neighbours’ creations. Some people had put out quarantined sweets in buckets to make up for the lack of trick and treating. Everyone felt like they had come together even though we couldn’t speak much to each other. There were amazing displays. I hope it will become an annual event.
Having a young family and full time working makes it difficult to get involved in the organising, so our role is to participate. It was down to a few people who took the initiative and organised it, but it takes a village to make it work.
Find out more
Shepley Village community website
Shepley Halloween photo montage from Shepley Magazine
Thank you to Lone for sharing this story after participating in one of our “How can more people come together to make local places better?” online workshops for Kirklees citizens.
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