Portland Street Advent Project

I once made friends with a lady on our street based on a conversation about what we had hanging in our windows so when I heard about a successful Advent window project that takes place in Derby each December I jumped at the chance to make it happen in our street. Portland street in Newtown, Exeter lends itself to a project like this as it is a long Victorian terrace with over a hundred houses.

My husband Steve and I run a design and marketing agency, Sfimedia Ltd, from our home in Portland Street and creativity and community spirit have always been important factors in our lives.

In times gone by everyone knew everyone on this street and people’s doors were always open. There were shops in the middle of the street where residents met and chatted and children played in the street, there being no cars to worry about. Nowadays life is very different. A large proportion of the houses are rented to students who only stay a couple of years before moving on. People don’t know their neighbours anymore let alone residents who live at the other end of the street to them.

In this project each participating house is given a date in Advent. They create a seasonal display in their sitting room window and then reveal it on their date like a giant living Advent calendar. Each day people can walk down the street and see a new window unveiled. By Christmas Eve there will be a street full of lovely scenes, lights and decorations to look at. It gives people a common interest, something to talk about with their neighbours and a sense of who lives in the street.

I sent a letter to everyone in Portland Street explaining the project along with a list of ideas to get people started. I wanted it to appeal to everyone and be inclusive of all religions and cultures. Then I followed that up with a flyer. Gradually forms started coming back to me but at one point I was worried we wouldn’t have enough houses involved. I approached nearby businesses The Globe in Clifton Road, (which has a window facing Portland Street) and A H Jones the Detective Agency on the corner of Portland Street and Clifton Road. Both were really supportive and agreed excitedly to take part. Bolstered by this I went door to door to encourage some of the student houses to get involved.

There are a lot of families and elderly people living in the street as well as a dense population of students and tensions sometimes rise when student behaviour becomes anti-social. This is an ideal opportunity for us all to pull together, creating something really positive that everyone can enjoy and giving the students a chance to be seen in a better light.

I soon had lots of responses from very enthusiastic people saying they couldn’t wait to get started on their display. We now have more than 24 houses involved so on some of the days there will be two displays being revealed! Through doing this I’ve already met a lot of lovely people on the street and many people I know living in other streets have said how much they would like to do the same next year. Wouldn’t it be great if it caught on? Once you poke people’s sense of community and open up lines of communication who knows what might be achieved? Our local councilor Richard Westlake heard about the project and is kindly helping to cover the stationery costs, supporting us whole heartedly.

What are we putting in our display? Well, I couldn’t possibly divulge that! Everyone is being very secretive about their plans which is adding to the fun. I can tell you though that I haven’t spent a penny on it. Everything we are using has been found in the house or in the woods and recycled with a little imagination. I don’t want people to feel they need to spend money to create something special. Our display represents the warmth of community spirit – something very close to my heart and can be viewed at No.28 on the 15th Dec.

Come and have a look for yourselves from Dec 1st-24th in Portland Street, Exeter or follow the event on Facebook at www.facebook.co.uk/sfimedia as it unfolds.

By Louise Fearn