This time next year

For A Change, Dec-Jan, 1998 by Mary Lean

The villagers of Wickersley, on the outskirts of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, are planning the party of the century for New Year's Eve 1999. But they are determined that when the bonfire and the fireworks fizzle out, they'll also have something more lasting to remember the new Millennium by.

The village's Churches Together--Anglican, Methodist and Catholic--used 1997 to consult on how to celebrate the year 2000. `We wrote to every single voluntary organization in the village, from the allotment association to the playgroups, the cricket club to the ladies' guild,' says the Anglican Rector, Raymond Draper, who chairs the village's Millennium Planning Group. They also involved local schools, businesses and government.

The group came up with an array of projects and events which include a parish map, treeplanting and other environmental projects, and a series of pageants, celebrations and festivals through the year 2000, culminating with a community exhibition that autumn.

The community is also looking outside its borders. `As a commuter village we feel our first duty at the Millennium is to look outwards,' says Draper.

The village is supporting the Jubilee 2000 campaign for international debt relief. And it is raising [pounds sterling] 2,000 to dig a well in a village on Mali's Dogon Plateau, one of the hottest places on earth.

Wickersley people feel an affinity for the project in Mali because, as a high-lying village with no surface watersources, they too used to have to dig down for water. Every house in the Middle Ages had its own well, says Draper.

For the mapping project, all the different groups will be asked to produce their own map--and thus communicate their view of the village. `The playgroups will see it differently from the luncheon group for the elderly,' Draper points out. He sees this as a bridgebuilding exercise between the old and young, and between the old village--which dates back to 850 AD--and today's commuters.

`We want to use the Millennium to integrate the old village with the incomers,' says Draper. `That's very important from the pastoral and community point of view. It's all about the making of friends and networks. Respect and trust is the essential bedrock of any community and it has to be renewed in every generation.'

On the night itself, there will be a church service, followed by a bonfire and barbecue. Then at 11.55pm everyone will light a candle and listen as the church bells ring in the new Millennium. Afterwards there will be fireworks. `We want to reclaim the night from wild groups of drunken youths,' says Draper. `It will be an event for the whole family and community. It's very important that the local community is affirmed by the Millennium at all levels.'