• Make a contribution
  • Get the Print Edition
  • Sign up for our daily newsletter
Wednesday, July 30, 2025
  • Login
Reading Today Online
  • HOME
  • YOUR AREA
    • All
    • Caversham
    • Central Reading
    • East Reading
    • Katesgrove
    • Reading
    • Southcote & Coley
    • Tilehurst & Norcot
    • Whitley

    Royal Berks relocation project gets govt funding

    Man charged with drugs and weapons charges following stabbing of teen in Reading

    Two attacked in Western Elms in early hours of Monday

    Mary scales the 02 in her wheelchair

    Pangbourne Rotary Club celebrates fundraising impact

    State of Play: Sl*ts with Consoles marries unbridled joy and unflinching indictment of videogames

    Reading Buses: ‘Short hop’ journeys between Caversham and central Reading see fare reduction

    Broad Street Beats back at the Mall ahead of Reading Pride

    Thames Hospice welcomes four new trustees ahead of new chair’s instatement

  • COMMUNITY
  • READING FC
  • SPORT
    • All
    • Basketball
    • Football
    • Rugby

    Ross County set value for Reading FC transfer target

    PREDICTIONS: How will Reading FC perform in the 2025/26 League One season?

    Reading West and Mid Berkshire MP Olivia Bailey celebrates Lionesses Euros win at 10 Downing Street

    Reading FC compete with League One clubs to sign striker

    Reading FC star Knibbs set to make Championship move as fee is agreed

    Reading FC confirm new signing as midfielder joins on permanent deal

    Former Reading FC loanee joins rivals

    Reading FC sign German attacker on permanent deal

    Reading and Chelsea legend Kerry Dixon set for Q&A at Purple Turtle

  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • ARTS
    • READING FESTIVAL
    • READING PRIDE
    • WOKINGHAM FESTIVAL
  • PRIDE OF READING
  • OBITUARIES
  • JOBS
  • ADVERTISE
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Reading Today Online
No Result
View All Result
Home People

TIME FOR KINDNESS: Brief encounters in the Big Smoke

Guest Contributor by Guest Contributor
Thursday, November 3, 2022 6:02 am
in People
A A
Tower Bridge in London Picture: Heike Georg from Pixabay

Tower Bridge in London Picture: Heike Georg from Pixabay

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

On a half-term visit to the Victoria and Albert museum with my teenage daughter, I was admiring a statue when another visitor asked me to take a photo.

I accepted the proffered camera phone and took a picture of her and her friend in front of the artwork.

Then we went our separate ways to see more beautiful things.

Two things struck me about this encounter:

How easy it can be to fit small gestures of kindness into your day.

It took me less than 60 seconds to help out, but now they have a photo to remind them of their trip and show their friends when they get home.

Related posts

Ruben Selles heaps praise on “exceptional” Sam Smith after scoring winner

READING 1-0 ROVERS: Smith goal fuels a win for Royals against ‘The Gas’

What is Mediation?

Almost 49,000 people waited more than four hours to be seen at RBH’s A&E department – politicians call for action

A selfie simply wouldn’t have worked, due to the size of the sculpture.

How easy it can be to be friendly and welcoming without much-shared language.

I’m not sure which country the ladies were visiting from, so we used just a few gestures (pointing and holding out the phone), a few words (“sculpture very good”) and lots of smiles. In that short space of time, we connected with each other in the shared experience of enjoying a museum exhibit.

London (and the South East more generally) has a reputation for being unfriendly, but I don’t think that’s always fair.

I regularly spot examples of kindness when I visit ‘the big smoke’, such as someone giving directions in the street or picking up a dropped jumper in the park.

And I think there are very few people who would have said no when asked to take that photo.

Kindness on the move

Maybe it’s because I often travel on public transport myself, but I love all the stories of kindness on buses and trains that are sent to me for my Time for Kindness website. Recent examples include:

A young person helping an older lady to ‘mind the gap’ and step up from the platform into a train carriage.

A local station manager who bought special stickers to give to children under 5 who are too young to get an actual train ticket.

A man on a bus who caught some dropped shopping bags before they actually hit the floor.

Many years ago my husband and I were travelling by train to visit family.

At Birmingham New Street station he helped a fellow passenger to lift her extremely heavy case off the train.

We realised afterwards that the suitcase owner was none other than Camilla Dallerup, then star of Strictly Come Dancing. Perhaps the case was so heavy because it was full of dancing shoes.

Celebrating kindness

World Kindness Day is coming up – it takes place on November 13 each year.

It is a chance to celebrate all the kindness that exists in the world, to recognise what’s happening and inspire even more.

I’ll be attending KindFest, the online festival of kindness, and there are plenty of other ways to celebrate. If you’re going to mark the day in some way, I’d love to hear how you get on.

Sarah Browning is a Kindness Cheerleader, Communicator and Strategist. For more details, log on to: www.timeforkindness.co.uk

Keep up to date by signing up for our daily newsletter

We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people who have requested it.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

Tags: rdgukreading newsreading ukTime for kindness
Previous Post

VOLUNTEER CORNER: As seen in Reading Today, November 2, 2022

Next Post

Students fun fair visit is serious business

FOLLOW US

POPULAR STORIES

  • Reading FC star Knibbs set to make Championship move as fee is agreed

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Reading FC compete with League One clubs to sign striker

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Former Reading FC striker Andy Carroll joins new club in England after leaving France

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Masked men armed with weapons rob store in Reading

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • League One side set to win race for former Reading FC young star

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

RDG.Today – which is a Social Enterprise – provides Reading Borough with free, independent news coverage.

If you are able, please support our work

Click Here to Support RDG.Today

ABOUT US

Reading Today is dedicated to providing news online across the whole of the Borough of Reading. It is a Social Enterprise, existing to support the various communities in Reading Borough.

CONTACT US

news@wokinghampaper.co.uk

Reading Today Logo

Keep up to date with our daily newsletter

We don’t spam we only send our newsletter to people that have subscribed

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

The Wokingham Paper Ltd publications are regulated by IPSO – the Independent Press Standards Organisation.
If you have a complaint about a  The Wokingham Paper Ltd  publication in print or online, you should, in the first instance, contact the publication concerned, email: editor@wokingham.today, or telephone: 0118 327 2662. If it is not resolved to your satisfaction, you should contact IPSO by telephone: 0300 123 2220, or visit its website: www.ipso.co.uk. Members of the public are welcome to contact IPSO at any time if they are not sure how to proceed, or need advice on how to frame a complaint.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • HOME
  • MY AREA
    • Central Reading
    • East Reading
    • Bracknell
    • Calcot
    • Caversham
    • Crowthorne
    • Earley
  • COMMUNITY
  • SPORT
    • Reading FC
    • Football
    • Rugby
    • Basketball
  • ENTERTAINMENT
    • ARTS
    • READING FESTIVAL
    • READING PRIDE
    • WOKINGHAM FESTIVAL
  • PRIDE OF READING
  • OBITUARIES
  • JOBS
  • ADVERTISE
  • CONTACT US
  • SUPPORT US
  • SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER
  • WHERE TO GET THE PRINT EDITION

© 2021 - The Wokingham Paper Ltd - All Right Reserved.