Two Cavershams
I find Caversham an interesting, if slightly disconcerting, place. I was a forces kid, so I spent my childhood moving from place to place on three year postings. Shallow roots. My father-in-law went to the primary school just over the road from where we live, back in the '30s and '40s. I don't know how long his parents lived in Caversham before that. It's a different world.
There is one Caversham that still retains the sense of old-style community. It is a network of people who have lived here all of their lives and who are deeply committed to the village and to its distinct identity. Then there is the other Caversham, larger but much more transient: people who are moving through, people who have moved here and may stay or may not, and people who come here because it's a nice area and they want to stay and become part of it. And, of course, people who have married into the old Caversham community.
The tricky problem is that there are not that many places where the two Cavershams really intersect. Schools, for the kids; in principle for the parents as well, although a lot of parents don't have time to get involved. Some of the community groups get newcomers involved too, although the bulk of most is old Caversham. And churches. The older churches have a backbone of old Caversham, but to survive must involve new Caversham. Building a church community from both groups can be difficult, but that is what churches are about: building community where community is missing.