- Kindness Connects marks first anniversary with festival to showcase work of Island charities
- The Islands first Kindness Festival aims to acknowledge how caring and kind Islanders are to others around the world
- See the full entertainment programme for the day below
- Have you ever carried out a ‘random act of kindness’? See the results of our poll
A FESTIVAL to celebrate Islanders’ generosity and to showcase the work undertaken by Jersey’s charities is due to take place this weekend.
The Kindness Festival, which has been organised by charity Kindness Connects to celebrate its first anniversary, will be held by the harbour in St Aubin on Saturday from 10 am to 4.30 pm.
Kindness Connects was founded to encourage acts of kindness and the aim of Saturday’s event is to bring together a number of charities and organisations from across the Island.
A total of 21 charities have signed up to take part in the event.
- Take the English words kin (noun: a group of people sharing a common ancestor) and kind (noun: a class of individuals or objects with common essential characteristics; or adjective: good by nature).
- All three words share ancient origins in the long-lost northern European word kunjam, meaning family. The last, which also means deliberately doing good to others, stems directly from the very old English word gecynde , which scholars define as natural or native.
- So those who first spoke the English language thought that humans are instinctively good to one another in short, that all men and women are essentially members of the same family.
Source: the Kindness Connects website
Brian Clarke, the festival organiser and founder of the charity, said that St Brelade’s Parish Hall has had to be used for the event as well as the harbour to accommodate the number of organisations.
‘When we first had the idea, there was a slow response from charities but then there was a lot of interest from charities who filled up all the spaces, which is what we wanted,’ Mr Clarke said.
As well as charity stalls, entertainment will also be provided, including a magician, live music, arts and crafts, as well as homemade food stalls.
Mr Clarke said that he wanted the festival to highlight the ‘wonderful work’ that charities do and encourage people to pass kindness on to each other.
‘A lot of people do not know all the things that charities are doing and only find out about the good work of a charity when they get into distress or a difficult situation,’ he said. ‘People need to know what is available to them.
‘So often we come across people who are experiencing difficulty and they do not know where to turn.’
Every visitor to the festival will receive a free kindness card to encourage acts of compassion, community and care, with the idea of passing the card on to others as a reward for their act of kindness.
- 10.30 am – 11.15 am: Nicolle & the Futurists
- 11.30 am – 12.15 pm: Magician, Finlay Ormsby
- 12.30 am – 1 pm: Hot Bananas
- 1.15 pm – 1.45 pm: Hot Bananas
- 2 pm – 2.30: Magician, Finlay Ormsby
- 2.45 pm – 3.30 pm – Jodie Lee Tostevin, joined by Jessica Garton
- 3.45 pm – 4.30 pm – Roadstrip Banter
What is kindness?
- Kindness is the single most significant quality that distinguishes us as humans. It marks our shared humanity.
- This truth confirmed by the wisdom of the ages and through the words of humankinds deepest thinkers, religious leaders, philosophers, scientists explains how humankind continues to survive and thrive. Through thousands of years and countless generations.
- Of course there can be tension between individuals and social groups according to their different values and beliefs. But time and again the essential, social nature of womankind and mankind enables us to replace selfishness and even conflict with compassion and care through acts of kindness.
Why do we need kindness?
- Kindness is essential to human nature: it is part of our essence as humans as every religion affirms.
- Its also essential to our survival as scientists discoveries confirm.
- Alarming headlines come and go. What endures is our natural instinct to practise kindness in many different ways: a smile, a helping hand, a gift big or small delivered, received and repeated every single day. We have collected many such stories from every corner of the world.
- Kindness can break patterns in society by introducing this new element, creating unity and compassion.
Source: the Kindness Connects website
