Having moved into a new house about 48 hours before I had my son, I was wandering around our new village with the pram for the first time. A lady saw me go around for about the third time and came out to say hello. She walked with us, introducing us to others as we went by, and then invited us in for a cup of tea.
A few years ago, my daughter was chosen by her teacher for a year’s worth of theatre training in association with the Garage Theatre. It has helped so much with her confidence, social skills and relationships. So grateful.
There have been feelings of why we were chosen. What kindness to know, though, that others cared and my daughter has blossomed so much since.
Every year at Christmas we put a few fairy lights on the little trees in our garden, and year by year we add another bauble or two. We do it to bring a little happiness to our ordinary corner of our village. When we first did it, when we moved here 14 years ago, the lights were ripped out and thrown in a nearby hedge by an unknown nasty person or persons. I went out and bought some more the next day and replaced them. This happened for the first three years. But we moved them each time a bit further back, out of reach.
I broke my glasses and hit my head. A group of students crossing at the same time helped me up and rescued the pieces of my glasses. Luckily I knew I hadn’t broken any bones. I crossed the road and a man offered to call an ambulance, but I felt I didn’t need one. He walked me to a short way towards Euston to make sure I felt okay to continue.
It was so kind and unexpected of him and lovely of the students to stop and help me up and cross the road.
It was a very windy day. I parked my car outside of the Forum to unload my carefully packed kits of felt I made for the art market that day. A gust of wind took them up out of my hands and scattered them all over the Norwich market.
A lady saw and rushed over to help. Later that morning, she came to my table at the Forum. She said she had spent all morning searching for any more missing felt kits. She found two!
Carol
Norwich, UK
Artist’s response
I was struck by how a complete stranger not only rushed to help but then went on to spend even more time searching for the missing kits. In a world were we’re often rushing around with our own To do list, the fact that somebody put that aside to help another, I found deeply moving.
Claire Atherton is an abstract artist and freelance creative practitioner who is passionate about the environment, particularly the stunning Norfolk coastline. Her aim through her creative practice and facilitation is to create a sense of place for people to enable them to take pride in where they choose to call home.
Artist
CLAIRE ATHERTON
I’m an Abstract Artist & Freelance Creative Practitioner, so no 2 days are ever the same!! In my artistic practice I play with paint to create abstract artworks and also experiment with clay to produce ceramic sculptures.
Website: https://www.claireatherton.co.uk/