大象传媒

I've got a question for you and I want you to be honest. How many of your neighbours do you know? What about their names?听

If you know more than five you are doing really well because research shows that fewer than half of us can name between one and five of our neighbours.听 That's right, most people don't even know five neighbours names!

That didn't come as a surprise to us at The One Show because when we asked about neighbourly spirit on the programme we were inundated with emails from people saying their area had changed for the worse and that people are less friendly than they used to be.

Well, here on The听One Show we like to provide answers to problems so I've been looking at ways we can make our neighbourhoods a bit more - well - neighbourly.

I've visited the village of Shotley in Suffolk where they've been running a scheme for three years.

It's a simple idea.听 Neighbours agree to put a couple of hours aside each week to help out other people in the area: driving someone to a hospital appointment maybe, or clipping an elderly person's hedge - whatever needs doing.

What struck me most is not how much good work the volunteers in Shotley have been doing - though that was impressive - it was more how much they all seemed to enjoy it.听

So here's what I want to know - do you think a would work in your area and - more importantly - would you be willing to get involved? Or you happier keeping yourself to yourself?

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