Gloriously Ordinary Sundays - 2nd March 2025
Happy March everyone. I don’t know about you, but the beautiful sunshine has really helped my sense of hope and possibility this weekend. I hope it’s touching your soul.
So, front doors! I think it’s safe to say this has got people thinking and chatting, which is great and exactly what I’d hoped.
In preparation for our campaign this week, I asked friends, colleagues, and family to share what ‘front door’ as a concept means to them. The majority of this blog is what people told me - beautiful, heartfelt, thoughtful quotes.
I started with Ciaran as he’s the face of the campaign, and here’s what he said:
‘Flat 2 Ciaran’s house. Two front doors - upstairs and downstairs. Check the camera see who’s there. Up the stairs, do come in. Lock the door keep safe.’
Interestingly, for him, it was quite pragmatic, and I couldn’t entice him into a conversation about how it feels. I took this as a positive – he is confident and secure that his front door is his and he chooses who comes in. Interestingly, I don’t have his front door key code. I think I made the conscious decision not to ask him for it when he moved in, as he no longer has keys to my home. When he visits me, he knocks, as do I when I visit him.
Friends and family who are not part of the world of social care often responded to my request for a quote with, ‘Ya what?’ (that was my nephew), and it became clear that most people don’t even consider it. I had a chat with my sister explaining the campaign, and she then said,
‘I’ve never really thought about that before. How privileged am I to be able to decide if and when I open my front door. My front door is my protector and also my welcomer. My front door protects me, makes me feel safe in my own home. But it is also my welcomer, there is nothing better than opening the front door to welcome people into my home. Everyone should have the privilege of being able to open their own front door.’
On the Gloriously Ordinary Lives website there are some videos people have made for the I Open My Own Front Door - Do You? campaign, and we’ll add more stuff as the week goes on. Wonderful Tim Keilty from New Prospects said, ‘I think this stuff is probably the most important stuff we do ….it’s the basics that we’ve forgotten over the years …. When we talk about all the different models and this and that and what’s the difference between supported living and blah-de-blah-de-blah ....the difference between all of it is we forget whose house it is, whose support it is, whose life it is’
So, the rest of this blog is given over to what people told me front door means to them.
‘Yes, I open my own front door. My door gives me choice to allow or not allow the world in. It’s my barrier, that makes me feel protected and safe.’
‘A front door feels welcoming. Everyone's front door is different. The colour, the type of doormat, the handle. You know you are home when you see your front door, and once inside you are in your own home where you feel at ease.’
‘Having fairly recently got a little dog, the knock on my front door has become much more exciting in the house. Humans, like dogs, are naturally pack animals... we want to know who's at the front door. This comes from a few instincts I can fully relate to...
Guarding instinct: to keep us feeling secure in our safe place
Curiosity: might kill the cat but we are generally inquisitive and nosy. (So even at times where I don't answer, Ring doorbell still helps ease my Curiosity (nosy nelly)
Social instinct: we can get excited if it's a friend/family member or even feel dread if I am in my PJs a little too early.
All these instincts are part of us being human or part of a pack. When living with a big family and the door goes, everyone hears, and everyone wants to know who is at the door. For those of you old enough you might remember the children's programme singing "There's somebody at the door....oh there's somebody at the door" feeding excited curiosity as to who it might be. The lack of control of being able or not supported to open the front door has the opposite effect....the lack of control, feeling less secure in our safe place and no excited curiosity or greeting that is taken as the norm for so many.
Technology has its place to help people stay in control of who might be at the door but there's nothing like opening a door (especially to someone you love) and saying hello, welcoming them into your safe place and then offering a brew.’
‘I always leave my front door open as I like people to know I am here and that I welcome visitors always! There is also a belligerent part of me that will not accept that we have to lock ourselves in to avoid all the nasty people in the world. Me and Pete (my partner) have always done this and we have not had any wanted visitors in 40 yrs. You will see from the picture that welcomed me after my walk that not only was my front door open, but it is a bit scruffy! Again, a bit belligerent of me to not fall into the “keep up with the Jones” middle-class paranoia about front doors and first impressions (aren’t we all a bit flawed?) That all said we do lock the door just before we go to bed and the click, knowing we are safe with each other and in the place we call home, is very viscerally reassuring.’
‘For me it’s the threshold of private and public. Save those I share it with, nobody crosses the threshold without our invitation. If we did not have control over it, we would lose not just our privacy but in turn our ability to be (and become) our full selves. And crucially, we could not be or feel safe.’
‘I love that I can open my door by pressing a button so I can go in and out with my dog without assistance.’
‘Front door for me means home. The choice to open it to welcome people in or close it when I need solitude and protection for me and my family!’
‘When I think about ‘having my own front door’, it brings up feelings of ownership, responsibility, and a real sense of achievement. It's about having a space where I can be my whole self, make my own decisions, and feel safe and secure. It symbolises freedom and stability—my own little piece of the world. It’s a place where I can share moments with loved ones and create new memories along the way.’
‘I worked with a lady about 15 years ago, sadly she’s no longer with us…we did a workshop session I forget the topic…but what I do remember is that it ignited a fire in her! She went home that day …went into the office and printed out some signs for her front door “Knock!!! Before entering!!” They stayed on her door for years and they always made me smile when I saw them.’
‘Having my own front door means I can invite the people I want in to my own space and close the door when I don’t want to be with people!’
‘A lady I am supporting as an advocate is currently in a local care home. She is desperate to go home and the one thing she says to everyone who takes the time to listen is that “I just want to be able to open my own front door.” ‘
‘A sense of relief, a sense of well-being, a sense of comfort, a sense of my normal. I’m home!’
Join us this week and get involved in the campaign! Find out more, click here.
PS. Have you heard about the upcoming workshop for Social Work Week?
Creating Gloriously Ordinary Lives - workshop. Social Work Week is all about taking time to reflect on your role as a social worker. Join Tricia Nicoll to explore what Gloriously Ordinary Lives means for you as a social worker and to pause and think.
PPS. Did you see? The Gloriously Ordinary Sundays Podcast episode 10 is here. I chat with James Townsend, Co-Founder and CEO of Mobilise. We reflect on the importance of shifting how local councils view families, focusing on supporting them to live gloriously ordinary lives. It's about having early conversations, rethinking relationships between people with a caring role and those they support, and opening up new ways of understanding those connections.