Dawn French supports LiveWest’s kindness campaign
Comedian and TV actress Dawn French has starred in a housing association’s video to promote kindness in its communities.
The South West’s largest housing association, LiveWest, linked up with The Vicar of Dibley star who agreed to feature as the narrator in a heart-warming ‘day in the life’ story of one of its residents.
The animation follows Lola, a young LiveWest resident, as she watches members of her community carry out small acts of kindness throughout the day.
The video was designed to show how the smallest acts of kindness can make a real difference to someone’s life and can create a positive chain reaction.
The idea came about after LiveWest’s Digital Communications and Supporting Housing teams joined forces to explore creating resources which would demonstrate what it means to be ‘a good neighbour’.
Frontline teams fed back the common themes they came across on a day-to-day basis and how a simple act of kindness can help to harness a positive community environment.
A visual story was created and Dawn offered to provide the voice-over to help promote the impact that acts of kindness can have on others and the community they live in.
Oli Price-Bates, Digital Design and Content Manager for LiveWest, said: “Rather than telling our customers what not to do, we wanted to take a positive and more engaging approach to a challenging topic.
“We knew the issues our frontline colleagues told us about had to be at the heart of the story.
“And in our animation, we highlight how good behaviour can have a positive effect on individuals and how it could stop some of these issues happening.
“We also wanted to show how the impact of small acts of kindness can cause a positive chain reaction leading to many more.
“Once we had created the animation, we thought it would really take it to the next level by including a local, but well-known voice that would engage the listener from the start.
“We reached out to Dawn French, who was happy to get involved and was very complimentary of this piece of work.
“Her voice really illuminated the concept of kindness and her reassuring and uplifting tone took the creation to new heights.
“To have a TV star like Dawn French helping us out in this way was fantastic and we are very thankful to have a household name supporting LiveWest in our pursuit of creating cohesive and positive communities.”
The animation is one of a number of initiatives LiveWest has put in place to promote kindness across its communities in the South West.
The housing provider launched a kindness competition to celebrate those incredible people who are supporting others.
The competition searched for three stand out people whose dedication and hard work has made a situation better for someone else and bought a smile to their face.
One of the winners, James Mason, donated a kidney to a stranger after watching a local news appeal for donors to come forward.
The Barnstaple-based engineer made the selfless decision to help a woman in her late teens and got to meet her family months following the successful transplant.
James said: “At the time, I didn't have any idea who it was but about three months later I got a letter from her mum.
“I've since been in touch, and I visited her family to see the impact and the changes it's had on her life, and it is just incredible. It's been really nice to actually get to find out how things went.
“All I had to do was go into an operating theatre and then rest for a few weeks and now my life is completely normal - it's had no impact. Apart from a very small scar to remind me.”
Another winner was Jacob Widdison who lives in Truro at a support housing scheme.
Jacob helped another a terminally ill resident who had fallen during the early hours of the morning.
Jacob said: “I wanted to step in because I could hear him talking from the window and so I wanted to make sure he wasn’t hurt, and everything was alright.
“When I got outside, I could see him lying in the road, so I helped to pick him back up.”
Despite the resident being very unwell and having Covid, Jacob put on some gloves and a mask to carry him back to his flat as there was a long wait for an ambulance. He then made sure to check he was comfortable while we waited for help to come.
To find out more about LiveWest, log on to: www.livewest.co.uk
