2007 – A year of kindness

FORGET the cynics. There are still lots of kind and decent people out there and every week in Bouquet of the Week, you write and tell us about them. There are good neighbours who still notice when people are ill and take care of them.

There are selfless people who still give up their time and talents with no thought for reward or recognition.

There are sales assistants and people in call centres who really care about the person they're serving, who actually want to solve their problems and make life easier.

The NHS - despite the gloom merchants - still seems to do a decent job for a lot of people, who write to us to tell us so. We've had lots of letters about GP practices and hospitals this year, particularly Darlington Memorial, Bishop Auckland General and the James Cook University Hospital. There are care homes who really care, support teams who really support and dentists who really don't hurt.

As travelling gets more difficult and delayed, we've had cheering news there too. As always, railway staff in Darlington have had a number of plaudits for being helpful - assisting elderly travellers, sorting out timetable queries or dealing with questions when there's an unexpected delay. "You accept there might be occasional hitches," wrote one reader. "What makes people feel so angry and helpless is when no one can be bothered to give you any information.

Darlington staff always seem to try and tell you as much as they know themselves."

We're an honest lot up here too. People have left wallets, handbags, mobile phones in supermarket trolleys, on trains, buses and seaside benches and have got them back. And more often than not, the finders have remained anonymous. And if you should suddenly take ill or collapse in the street or lock yourself out of your car, you stand a very good chance of being rescued by strangers. So it's not such a bad world really.

Over the year in Bouquet of the Week, we've had hundreds of examples of random acts of kindness, wonderful helpfulness or super-efficient service that has cheered someone up so much that they've bothered to write and tell us about it. Sometimes long letters or emails, sometimes just a few lines. The message is the same.

And because we can't give everyone a bouquet, this week it's our Christmas consolation prize - when we look back over the year and, thanks to Nattrass the Florist, give some bouquets to people who missed out first time round.

Here are this year's six Bouquet of the Year winners:

■ Sallyanne Grey and her husband David run Pet Pals (Darlington and Yarm), an all-purpose pet service that includes walking, caring, dog sitting and pet taxis. They were very helpful when a Darlington reader had to take her dog to the vet. But when a few weeks later, the same reader had to take her dog Nell, and have her put down, Sallyanne and David were really brilliant.

"Arriving within ten minutes of my calling them, they stayed for over two hours while the vet tried in vain to save my pet. They offered comfort, support and even a lift home. Although there is normally a charge for this pet taxi service, but on this occasion there was no charge whatosoever. Their caring attitude helped me so much at this very upsetting time."

■ Good neighbours are a recurring theme to this column. Back in May we heard about two lots of good neighbours in Redcar. After a four-week stay in hospital, Denis Edkins' wife was unable to walk without assistance, couldn't climb the stairs and was unable to do any cooking or housework. She had just come home when Denis was then taken ill and rushed to hospital, leaving his wife stranded and alone.

"Our neighbours Dawn and Michael Beckett and Sylvia and John Nellist took over, made her meals, saw to her needs and helped her upstairs. Without them she would just not have managed and I cannot imagine better neighbours."

■ Being cared for by neighbours is one thing, how much worse to be taken ill among strangers. That's what happened to 78-year-old Eva Wakeford when she was in the Abbey National in Darlington in September. "I was in the queue waiting for my pension when I blacked out," she wrote. Luckily, everyone in the branch was very kind, looked after her, called the ambulance and even remembered to take her pension money to the ambulance, so she couldn't have been better cared for.

■ Gone are the days when baby equipment was child's play, as some grandparents from Sadberge discovered when they went to Halfords in Darlington to buy a car seat for their new granddaughter.

Luckily, they were served by Marie Brown, who not only knew all about choosing and fitting a car seat, but was extremely kind and patient in explaining everything, so they could be sure that little Katy was safe and secure.

■ Another frequent name on this page is Ann Allison of Asda in Spennymoor.

She's the store's events organiser, always raising money for charity with all sorts of events, raffles and promotions. Ann works tremendously hard but is always writing in to thank other people who've made all the difference - those who've made cakes, given to raffles, donned fancy dress or just put the money in the bucket. She is very appreciative of every effort by everyone, but really they are all inspired by her energy and enthusiasm.

This year the store, which is only small really, raised £9,000 in eight weeks for Breast Cancer Care, which is a terrific effort, so we think that this time, it's the rest of us who should be thanking Ann.

Ann and the other five winners will all be getting bouquets courtesy of Nattrass.

And that's it for this year. Gosh, it's gone quickly, hasn't it?

Next week, next year, we'll be back to normal with Bouquet of the Week. Remember, we're always quick to complain and criticise, but if you want to make a New Year resolution to be quick to pay compliments too, this is the page to do it.

■ If you want to say a public thank you for good service or to a helpful neighbour, kind stranger or efficient business, then just write with all the details to Sharon Griffiths, Bouquet of the Week, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington, DL1 1NF. Or email sjgriff111@aol.com. Each week the person nominated in our main letter gets a real bouquet of flowers or a box of posh chocs.

Happy New Year! See you in 2008.