So Coal House At War has finally come to an end and – for better or worse - the Griffiths family of Gwaun Cae Gurwen are back enjoying the comforts of the 21st century in the Amman Valley. What an experience it must have been.

Despite the hardships they suffered in Stack Square a common theme to emerge from this TV series is the 1940s community spirit some of the programme’s participants feel is conspicuously lacking in 2008.

No doubt wartime families pulled together as never before with the country standing on the brink of the abyss. ‘The spirit of the blitz’ and ‘bulldog spirit’ were very real and helped sustain our country during its darkest hour. Less well known is how crime escalated under cover of the blackout which – with the forces of law and order already stretched to breaking point - must have proved a godsend to assorted petty thieves and criminals.

Recalling his own wartime memories on a recent TV documentary, one former crook confessed he’d “never had it so good”.

And is community spirit really such a thing of the past? Considering the shortage of cash so many of our readers are experiencing, the fact so many contribute to numerous worthy causes can be viewed as nothing less than remarkable. Whilst it may be tempting to fondly recall the ‘good old days’ you do not have to look very far for examples of community spirit in the modern world as the numerous reports of fund-raising activities carried in the Guardian testify.