THE community spirit in Slyne-with-Hest is evident – it's a place where people still stop in the street to chat, and where residents are still keen to get involved in village life.

A glance on village noticeboards or through the parish newsletter will confirm this – there's a plethora of clubs and organisations for people of all ages to get involved in.

An annual May Fair also brings the whole community together.

Many residents either move to Slyne or remain there because of the harmonious life.

Rev Pauline Bicknell relocated to the area to become vicar of St Luke's Church nearly three years ago.

"It was the sense of community that attracted me," she said. "I wanted a church in a villlage community.

"There's a real community feel here – in my early days there was a village meeting and people were asking what they could do to get involved, and that was a real surprise for me.

"It's a good place to live, because it's rural without being isolated and suburban without being urbanised."

Heather Wakelin, who has been one of the church's two wardens, along with Alan Hipple, for five years, is very much a member of that community.

Born in the village in 1952, she was baptised, confirmed and married in St Luke's Church, and has lived in Slyne for most of her life.

"We moved to Morecambe for four years after we got married, but we soon came back," she said. "I look at other places and I don't think I would like to live anywhere else.

"A lot of people I know have been here all their life and in the same houses. There's a nucleus of families which have three generations still living here."

Parish council chairman Stephen Jones agrees. He has lived in Slyne for 41 years, only leaving to attend university for three years.

"You go away on holiday and then come back and see the view across the bay and the ambience of the village, the whole area is just so nice," he said.

"A lot of people live in Lancaster or Morecambe their whole life and don't realise that within a small distance it's actually quite rural."

Local history group committee member David Mowle moved to Slyne in 1961, and he remembers a time when the area was less congested.

The bulk of the peaceful community originally consisted, as the name suggests, of two villages – Slyne to the east and Hest to the west.

"It wasn't completely built up when I came here," David said. "There were a lot of fields between Slyne and Hest Bank but it's all been in-filled now. The borders have become blurred between Slyne and Hest Bank.

"Slyne and Hest Bank were originally two townships within the parish of Bolton-le-Sands, and the green fields between them didn't disappear until the end of the 1960s.

They were still two distinct places until then."

David points to a massive population growth as a result of the development.

While there were just 168 residents in each of Slyne and Hest Bank until the 1600s, by the 1850s there were 300 in each, by the early 1920s this had grown to 500 in each, and today a total of around 4,200 live in the area.

History group chairman Mavis Foster believes the secret to
Slyne-with-Hest's popularity is its size.

"It's a large village but it's still kept its community feel," she said. "That's what I like about it.

"I think for any child growing up in a village like this the advantages are colossal."

The head at Slyne-with-Hest CE Primary School is certainly keen to build on the school's already strong community links.

The school moved to its current site in the 1960s, having begun life in the Christadelphian Hall on the A6.

It's grown dramatically since then, and now has a roll of 237 children; around two thirds of those are from Slyne-with-Hest.

Paul Bowden, who has been head since September 2006, said: "What we are trying to do is be seen as a school at the centre of the community.

"We are a Church of England school and we hold that very important but equally we see ourselves as the school for Slyne-with-Hest and we want to be seen as a school that's open for all."

To that end, outside organisations including Lancaster's Adult College and the diocese use the school's facilities for activities and courses.

Events such as regular bingo and quiz nights are also opened up to the community, and the Friends of Slyne-with-Hest Primary School group is open to all.

The church ministers visit the school too, and every half-term the youngsters put on a performance of their recent work for villlagers.

However, residents admit that life is not all rosy in Slyne.

County council budget cuts in recent years have led to the loss of the village library and Slyne House care home, community facilities have slowly disappeared, and the northern bypass is set to slice through the edge of their rural haven.

"When I moved to Hest Bank in 1966, there was a clinic, a doctor, a chemist and an old people's home and a library – it's all gone now," Mavis said. "The village I was born in near Accrington in 1939 had more then than this village does now; we have gone backwards.

"Losing the library was a big loss to the village. It should be a given to have a library, and it was so well used."

Stephen added: "It was a huge hub for the community. Also, the money made from running the library provided money for the village hall funds.

"On the whole most people in the village are against the bypass. The parish council stayed neutral, and our role now is about making sure the development doesn't drastically alter the village."