"There cannot be change without loss"

Sally Coulthard's book, The Barn, explores the history of the Rye Valley and how life has changed over the centuries. The book highlights the theme of loss, as old customs and cultures have been replaced by new ones. For example, hiring fairs, once a regular event, ended with agricultural mechanisation. The book also discusses changes in water supplies, waste disposal, and ownership patterns. While change can bring comfort and security, it also involves loss. Sally's book reminds us that compassion and sensitivity are necessary for successful change. Hello and welcome to Creative Change Insights for 11th of January 2023. There cannot be change without loss. Sally Coulthard's book The Barn is the history of the Rye Valley where we live, seen through the eyes of her old stone barn. I read the book over Christmas. It was a captivating description of how life has changed in our valley over the centuries, with the loss of old customs, processes and cultures as an ever-present theme of the book. Sally describes, for instance, the annual hiring fairs, a regular event for hundreds of years that carried on into the 20th century in some parts of Yorkshire. She tells how, in 1855, 10,000 men and 5,000 women, all seeking work and a good day out, packed the streets of Malton, our nearby market town. These were magnificent events, a time of celebration and meeting of family and friends, and, of course, employment. Inevitable Evolution Inevitably, hiring fairs came to an end with agricultural mechanisation. With good equipment, just two labourers could harvest a field rather than the dozen it would have taken, and farmers no longer needed the cattle market-style hiring fairs. The loss of hiring fairs is just one example of the changes that have taken place in our local area. Sally tells of the evolution of everything from water supplies to waste disposal, to put it politely. She tells of the enclosures of the 18th century and their impact on our rural society and landscape. Changing ownership patterns is another theme of the book, and greed, science and wealth have all played their part in how the land here has been owned and farmed. I read the book with awe and excitement. I was thrilled to discover so much about my home turf and how it has changed over the centuries. However, I was also left with a vague sense of unease and disquiet when I finished the book, a feeling I could not fathom until I came across the words of Stephen Grace's book, The Examined Life. There cannot be change without loss. Here is the explanation of my disquiet on finishing the barn. Every time Sally writes about the evolution of rural life, she also describes the loss of what has gone before. A minor travelling fair, dodgems, ghost train, etc., has replaced the old riotous and productive hiring fairs. Pumps, sanitised water replaced the spring and well water that kept the barn going for many years. And while the railways and then cars revolutionised transport in the 19th century, they also extinguished the peace and quiet of the valley forever. Change and loss. That is not to say change is bad. On the contrary, we live today in comfort and security that our forebears could never have attained. For example, most would have welcomed the new laws governing workplace safety and child labour, even though they led to new working patterns and all they involved. However, it is a lesson worth remembering, especially if you are determined to create change in your life and the lives of others, that change and loss go hand in hand. The expectation of loss is why many people fear change, often with good reason, in Rydell's book. Sally's book teaches us that we must overcome the anxiety and resistance accompanying the loss of old ways, preferably with compassion and sensitivity, if change is to succeed.