Heart of England CRP

4-10 September

Coventry Acts of Kindness

Between 4 and 10 September, the Heart of England Community Rail Partnership and The Kaleidoscope Plus Group teamed up to bring #CoventryActsOfKindness to three stations in Coventry.

Thanks to a grant from Avanti West Coast, we sourced beautiful flowers from CreScent Flowers, delicious baked goods from Wicked Cookies and Buttercream Dreams and inspirational art postcards from Brink Contemporary Arts to give out to people passing through Coventry, Tile Hill and Canley Stations. Leofric Lions were also supporting us at Coventry Station and handing out extra goodies to children. 

Community spirit around the country has been fantastic during the lockdown and as a Community Rail Partnership, we want to keep that particular positive legacy from the crisis going. For many people, travelling by train and going into train stations may feel overwhelming for many reasons. People will have concerns about their health whilst travelling or worrying about the economic or the social impact that Covid-19 has had on them.

The idea behind the Coventry Acts of Kindness was to make people feel welcomed into the station and to encourage them to not view train travel as something to be intimidated by. Many mental health issues will also have been exacerbated during the lockdown, so The Kaleidoscope Plus Group were on hand to talk to people with any concerns and signpost them to services that can help them.

The response to the event has been incredible, with people thanking our volunteers for their efforts and for the time they gave to listening to people. We had stories of our acts of kindness encouraging others to perform their own acts of kindness for their friends and family, and we were able to bring a smile to a lot of people’s faces.