May
Coote is a very active member
of the village community, having
retired from being the school
cook. She feels the school used
to be the centre of village
life. Every child was well known
and family problems were also
shared. She, along with Kate
Atherton and Margaret Ince,
helped to set up the luncheon
club for retired people; at
one time they catered for 42
people, but this has now dwindled
and only six attended the Christmas
lunch last year. May is also
very involved with the British
Legion. This also had much more
support in the past when there
were meetings in the village,
though now only a handful of
people belong and meetings are
held in Newmarket. Another interest
of May's is the "Forresters",
which has suffered from the
same fate.
May
feels strongly that new people
coming to the village tend not
to join in, as many of them
are on short term rental and
move on quickly. Public transport
doesn't get sufficient customers
to sustain it and the travelling
library, which she encouraged
to come to "The Green" by collecting
twelve names, now only has two
or three customers.