Let’s face it, today’s just been a lot of bad news. Sure, it didn’t go the way that we wanted it too, but instead of dwelling on it, I decided to do some digging and find some good news hidden in the darkness. Good news stories are everywhere if you are willing to look past all the rubbish. In my opinion, negativity does nothing but breed more negativity so I’m here with some positive for you.
Community rallies around popular pensioner to make his home livable again
When 89 year old Carl Marshall, a retired park ranger, had to leave his home for the sake of his health, he did not expect the residents of Glossop to come to his aid. A regular at the local Oakwood pub, Carl was a much loved resident of his Derbyshire town. Locals were shocked when they learnt that his home had bare floors, no heating and damp, and decided to do something about it. Over an eleven month period and with over 16,000 pounds worth of donations and materials, 50 volunteers transformed Carl’s home in true DIY SOS style, making it a safe and healthy place to live again, allowing him to return home for the first time in a year.
Bin men surprise their favourite resident on her 100th birthday
Bin man Ben Bird has been collecting rubbish from the home of Dorothy Ballard for eight years and always stops to have a chat with his favourite lady each week. When he found out that he would be visiting her on her 100th birthday, he decided to surprise her.
Along with his colleagues, Ben presented Dorothy with a birthday cake. His colleagues filmed the presentation and the video was viewed over 3 million times on social media
A chance meeting between a devoted memorial keeper and a BBC Presenter created something very special
In 1994, a eight old boy called Tony Foulds was playing in Endcliffe park in Sheffield when a US Bomber plane nicknamed ‘Mi Amigo’ crashed into the ground killing all ten men on board. Tony and his friends first thought that the low flying pilot was waving at them, but then they realised that he was really ushering them out of the way before the crash. For more than seven decades, Tony (now 82) has been tending to the memorial and keeping the memory of those ten air men alive.
In December 2018, BBC presenter Dan Walker met Tony by chance whilst walking his dog through Endcliffe park. Dan was touched by Tony’s devotion to the memorial and his dedication to keeping it tidy in honour of those who died. During the conversation with Dan, Tony revealed that he would love a flypast on the anniversary of the crash.
Tony appeared on BBC breakfast alongside Dan and people from all over the world were touched by the story. With Tony’s memorial and Dan’s work, on February 22nd 2019, Tony got his flypast with thousands watching in the park and many more around the world, including Dan who was in Africa preparing to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.
A Christmas advert that cost just £100 to make melts hearts and gives an important message
A Christmas advert went viral earlier this month, and I’m not talking about Edgar the excitable (John Lewis’ campaign for this year). Two year old Arthur stars in an advert for his dad’s family hardware shop in Powys, and the ad was viewed over 50,000 times in two days.
The advert cost just £100 pounds to make, and tells important stories. One, anyone can be a kid at Christmas and two, shop local. This will make you smile.
After 20 festive seasons alone, Terrance finally gets some company at Christmas
Terrance, 78, appeared on BBC Breakfast earlier this week to talk about loneliness at Christmas, revealing that he had spent the last 20 festive seasons alone and that he didn’t even have a tree this year. Unable to let him see another Christmas through alone, presenter Dan Walker made a promise that he would get Terrance a Christmas tree. In a video released on social media the next day, Dan revealed that a lovely group from Oldham College, not far from where Terrance lives, had offered to help and in a touching video showed the volunteers bringing a tree to a very thankful and tearful Terrance. He was also treated to a performance of his favourite Carol ‘Silent Night’ by the Oldham College Choir.
Even Piers Morgan took to Twitter to reveal that this one had brought a tear to his eye