It's all too easy to fail to get to know your neighbours, writes Zahra Akkerhuys.

The pressures of modern life have meant that in recent years people have been able to hide behind the flimsy excuse that they are juggling the school run and a hectic career and simply don't have the time.

The spirit of neighbourliness, that was compounded by the Second World War when the country had united against the enemy, had started to crumble. Many villages and suburbs ended up becoming sprawling dormitories where nobody knew anyone's name.

Amateur dramatics groups folded and parents started to employ strangers as child-minders to look after their children rather than rely on the neighbours to keep an eye on them. People tended to make friends through work or leisure activities rather than socialising with people in their immediate vicinity. But a new survey by the BBC has revealed that the spirit of neighbourliness is having a renaissance. Research shows more people are starting to turn to their neighbours to help them when they are in need. Far from painting a bleak picture of neighbours at war and communities in decay, the survey shows that community values are very much back in vogue. Almost half of the people questioned in the poll said that they believed the new millennium had brought with it a revival of community spirit with one in five taking a more civic role recently. The release of the survey coincides with TimeBank Day and the launch of a major national initiative, spearheaded by gardening celebrity Charlie Dimmock, which aims to turn this widespread goodwill into positive community action.

The scheme aims to increase the number of people who give time to their communities by matching the interests and passions of individuals, with local projects that need help. It offers a simple solution to turning good intentions into rewarding support.

Pensioner Ron Webster, of north Oxford, says he believes that a close-knit community comes about when there is good communication between neighbours. The sense of community spirit comes as their lives become integrated and they start looking after each other whenever it is needed.

Ron says: "My wife and I have a elderly gentleman as a neighbour who we help out by giving lifts to the station when he needs it.

"We're certainly not angels of virtue or anything like that but it all helps make people's lives run more smoothly."

Ron is treasurer of the Neighbourly Help Service (NHS) run by the North Oxford Association. The NHS has 70 volunteers across the area who lend a hand to those who might need it. Their work can include taking elderly people to hospital appointments or reading aloud to someone who has lost their sight. The expansion of the number of Neighbourhood Watch schemes set up across the country is also an indication of the growth of community spirit. The BBC's survey showed that a quarter of householders are involved in Neighbourhood Watch schemes and one in 10 belongs to a residents association.

One Oxford-based Neighbourhood Watch co-ordinator, who asked not to be named, said: "Neighbourhood Watch harnesses the community to unite together and defend itself as one - not in a vigilante way taking revenge but

instead simply by helping each other. "People help out by watching out for strangers in the area or by keeping an eye on a property if the owner is away on holiday.

"Small actions like that make all the difference. I think they are gradually realising that it can bring untold benefits to people on both sides of the garden fence."

**Anyone who would like to offer their time and talents to the TimeBank scheme should complete a questionnaire available via the Internet at www.bbc.co.uk/timebank or call 0870 608 4422.