By Mitchell Clarke
A quirky English initiative, which was introduced to the Longwarry community in an Australian first, will soon launch a site in Garfield.
The ‘Spoonville’ trend was born out of Winnersh, England, in an attempt to improve mental health by simply making people happy as they were out and about during daily exercise.
Longwarry local Junelle Wilson, formerly of Scotland, came across the initiative from her friend, Helen, who began a Scottish Spoonville.
“I then saw that and ‘twinned’ our Spoonville with it,” Ms Wilson said, when asked how the idea was brought to Australia.
The Longwarry branch is one of 15 sites internationally and is the first in the country, however Ms Wilson is hopeful the initiative will continue to grow.
“We are the only Australian one so far but one is coming to Garfield soon. We have been posting on local groups to try see if more people want to start one,” she explained.
“It is taking off very fast in the UK though with new ones every day.”
A simple concept, participants are encouraged to create a “spoony person” and add them to their own little community.
Previous participants have let their imaginations run wild, creating some unique “spoony people” including Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Steve Irwin, Forky from Toy Story, and Reese With-a-Spoon.
To launch your own community, Ms Wilson said a publicly accessible spot, perhaps somewhere nice and green, needed to be located.
“You need a Spoonville sign, a couple of old wooden utensils (we don’t discriminate) and a bit of imagination,” she explained.
“And remember, the spoons don’t have to social distance.”
A Facebook page, titled Spoonville International, was created by Junelle and Helen, with permission from Karen, to keep track of the growing global sites.
“It took a week or two but it is slowly building momentum and people are loving it,” Ms Wilson said.
“We have a really kind and connected community which is great to see during these tough times.
“They talk about it when I go to the shop and every day a new spoon or three pops up!”
