we have just returned from a wonderful weekend during which we were fortunate to spend time with some of the best people on this planet.

We sat in a glittery Dome and watched time and again amazing ‘ordinary’ people who were given awards for doing extraordinary things.  One winner of an award is a woman I count as a friend.  She is tiny in stature but my goodness her heart is huge.  She single handedly powers a voluntary organisation to support a whole estate.  She is the go to person for anything and everything, Help with form filling, yes, no problem, need a job, she will help find one with you.  Food is needed, she will do a deal with a supermarket and tickets for a Christmas show, cheap as chips when this amazing human being does her thing.

This blog is about friendship and it is about hope, and this particular friend embodies both topics completely.  It can be a dark and scary world out there, especially if you are a bit vulnerable, maybe through illness or sadness.  How wonderful to have a advocate, from your own community, who is prepared to stand by your side.

I know the place she works her magic.  It has a some what unfair name for being a less desirable place to live, but this view is only held by those who don’t know the place as I do.  Yes it has it’s problems and the people there are not the richest in the world, there might not be a lot of spare money about, but boy does this place have love.  I spent five years here working with the community and can honestly say it was one of the best places I have ever worked.  Some of that is down to my award winning friend, for it is her and those around her who create a community.

The awards evening wasn’t the Oscars, but it certainly felt like it, and the people picking up awards were not getting them for playing a role, but for being themselves.  Actually not for being themselves, but for being the best they can be.  Surely that is what we all should aim for this Advent, to walk an extra mile to help someone along the way, to be the light in the darkness and to offer friendship to those who need a friend.  It isn’t really that difficult to do, if you think about it, it is simple.  By being the best we can, we allow others to be their best too, and that way we help each other to brighten the world.

So, if one day you find yourself in a Dome, or on a council estate, or at the Oscars, in fact wherever life takes you, please take the time to look around, and seek out the people who are doing the best they can, once you find them do then take the time to stand alongside them, that way we can all raise our game and together be the change we want to see in the world