The ‘Lights & Hearts Trail’ has been a message of hope for the people of Wanborough, Wiltshire during the UK’s third lockdown. “I loved the idea because it was a message of positivity that could help and support everybody”.

Nicky Reynolds, a Wanborough resident, had seen over social media a ‘Hope Trail’ taking place in village nearby to her own. Nicky then began organising the ‘Wanborough Lights & Hearts Trail’ in hope of “bringing happiness to the village”. 

Through the power of Facebook, Nicky arranged for people from around the village to put up Christmas lights and cardboard hearts in their windows alongside a picture of a children’s character. Participants would then walk around the village guessing the different characters. 

The winner, Clara Fatica, age 10, received a £20 Uber Eats voucher for correctly answering every section of the trail. Nicky paid for the prize out of the goodness of her heart and said that she wanted to spread positivity through this difficult time.

Clara described the trail as “great fun and really interesting”. She said that she doesn’t like lockdown as she can’t go to school so being able to go out and do something different was a lot of fun. 

Kathryn Middleton took part in both the trail and decorating her house and spoke about how she “loved the idea because it was a purely positive message which could bring the community together”. She spoke about how her and her family enjoyed being able to get out and explore parts of the village which they had never been to before.

The message of hope seemed to spread across the village. Kathryn spoke about how her neighbours who didn’t officially take part in the trail gradually started to put up lights and join in.

A simple act of kindness brought a whole community together and showed to those struggling with our current circumstances that there is light at the end of the tunnel.