I am a strong believer that community is vitally important. Growing up I never felt a sense of belonging and so as I’ve got older, I’ve tried to rectify it. I like knowing that people look out for each other and want to help. Of course there are folk wherever you live who will, intentionally or unintentionally, get on your nerves or not have that same level of respect for the space in which you live. Just the other week I had a school girl barge into my daughter and I, then stuck her finger up at us. And on another day, a couple in their car got cross with me when I was reversing out of my drive as I thought they’d stopped to let me out when actually they hadn’t. People like that can really try to bring you down and ruin your day, but you just have to rise above it.

That’s why events like the Ham Common fair are brilliant and restore my faith in knowing there are amazing people in the community who give up their time to organise it for the likes of you and me to enjoy. Once again my family headed down and had fun on the bouncy castles and hooking ducks to win prizes. We also had a look at all the nik naks and were enticed by some homemade cakes. My little ones sat in the police car and chatted to an officer and were also intrigued by the alpacas who were basking in the day’s sunshine. There was such a brilliant vibe and it was lovely to see people bumping into others they knew from the area, school or work.

Seeing communities work together in a crisis is something we’ve seen quite a lot recently in the news, and although it’s a shame that these tragic events have to highlight the importance of it, it’s also been inspiring to see the compassion we can have for one another. My thoughts and prayers go out to those affected by the Grenfell Tower fire in West London.