Yes, FB can get very annoying. But there are some lovely groups on there. At the moment, there’s a long thread running on Whitchurch Nostalgia, which is a local closed group that collects information about the history of Whitchurch (Hants). I was a teacher at the primary school here in the 1970s and 80s and at the moment, having posted a photo of the teachers in 1973 when the old Head had retired, we are uncovering such a treasure trove of memories, photos, old reports etc from previous pupils about what school was like 40+ years ago. I’ve just found an old cassette tape of children in my Year 3 class reading stories and articles they had written as part of a collaborative writing project, and I’m trying to arrange to get it downloaded so I can edit it for people to listen to. So many memories, and so much fun and laughter, is coming out of it and I’m loving all the contacts I’m making from kids I taught so many years ago, who are now pushing 50. There’s a very warm feeling to the group; like on here, it feels as if everyone is valued and interesting, Ours is a small town with a very long history and a great community spirit that has really come to the fore in lockdown, with its own community FB group that helps people with shopping etc. People tend to stay around here when they grow up. The same family names are still found here as can be found on our memorials, church records etc, and although our town has doubled in size since we came 49 years ago, there’s still that sense of friendly interest that I noticed the very first time we stopped in the main street to buy some milk, back in 1971. I noticed then that people looked me in the eye, as if they expected to greet me, which I soon found was actually the case, quite different from living in big cities like Bath, Bristol and Hitchin, where we had been before.
FB is really odd and I absolutely love many on it but it is weirdly skewed (!?!?! goodness knows how!)
