Author: Deborah Castellanos
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Mediation Instead of Solicitors
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’98, watching two neighbors go at it over a shared driveway. The air was thick with the smell of damp coats and old tea, but the tension was even sharper.… Continue reading
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A Neighbour Dispute Before It Becomes Legal
I remember sitting in a drafty community hall back in ’94, listening to a solicitor explain why a boundary disagreement required a three-thousand-pound mediation fee and six months of paperwork. It was infuriating. People think that when things go wrong… Continue reading
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Publicising an Event Without a Budget
I remember standing in a drafty church hall back in ’94, staring at a stack of expensive, glossy flyers that we’d spent our entire tiny budget on, only to realize that nobody in the village had actually seen them. We… Continue reading
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Transcribing an Hour of Tape
I remember sitting in a drafty community hall back in the nineties, surrounded by half-empty tea mugs and the heavy silence that follows a truly vital conversation. I had spent two hours listening to a resident describe exactly why the… Continue reading
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Asking Questions That Open Memory
I remember sitting in Mrs. Gable’s kitchen back in ’94, surrounded by the scent of stale tea and old newspapers, clutching a clipboard like it was a shield. I had this ridiculous, formal questionnaire prepared—twenty pages of “standardized inquiries” that… Continue reading
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Reporting Antisocial Behaviour With Evidence
I remember sitting in a drafty community hall back in the nineties, listening to a young officer explain that the only way to deal with local nuisance was through a mountain of formal, multi-agency paperwork. It was all very professional,… Continue reading
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A Steward Briefing of Ten Minutes
I remember standing in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a perfectly good community garden project fall apart because the volunteers had no idea who was supposed to be holding the keys. We had all the passion in… Continue reading
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Safeguarding for a Group of Twelve
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, watching a lovely woman—who had spent her whole life helping others—burst into tears because a local gardening club had lost track of its petty cash. There was no grand… Continue reading
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Staffing an Event Without Begging
I remember sitting in a drafty church hall back in ’94, staring at a stack of glossy, expensive-looking flyers that promised to “revolutionize community engagement.” We had spent our tiny budget on those professional designs, yet when the day of… Continue reading
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Taking Cards When There Is No Signal
I remember the exact moment the summer fete for the West End community garden started to unravel. We had a lovely spread of homemade preserves and elderflower cordial, but as the midday rush hit, the atmosphere shifted from festive to… Continue reading
