Surprise gifts bring big smiles across town
Flowers and painted pebbles left in different locations brought surprises and joy for those finding the unexpected gifts of kindness.
The warm-hearted residents of a Hednesford care home placed homemade gifts around the town to share kind thoughts with local people.
Residents living at Littleton Lodge, on Bishop Street, placed 20 hand-tied bouquets of flowers and painted pebbles for people to find.
The bouquets, along with 'kindness pebbles', bearing designs including bees and hearts, were left at the Davy Lamp outside the Lightworks and at the Town Clock on Market Street.
Residents wrote inspirational messages, including 'no act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted' and 'look after each other' on paper tags.
They then attached them to the colourful bunches of flowers.
The floral posies included many perennial favourite flowers, ranging from pale pink and white roses to bright pink carnations, baby's breath, lisianthus and dark purple statice.
The stones, which were all hand-painted by residents, also bore the simple message 'be kind'.
The selfless stunt captured the imagination of the town, with hundreds of people taking to social media to say they had seen the colourful flowers and pebbles and how they wanted to express their gratitude.
Sheila Bishop said on Facebook that it was a fantastic way to spread the work kindness and put a smile on people's faces.
Laura Cardno, also posted that the gesture, which coincided with World Kindness Day, had made her smile.
Rachel Ellis, home manager for Littleton Lodge, which is a residential and dementia care home operated by Ideal Care homes, said: "We spoke about World Kindness Day at a residents' meeting and decided to take part.
"A few of the residents came up with the idea of leaving bunches of flowers around town, which I thought was lovely.
"I couldn't believe how positively people reacted to it locally.
"It just shows how the little things really count.
"There were literally hundreds of Facebook comments as news of our project was shared across many groups.
"The residents found it very heart-warming that their efforts were so appreciated."
