IN a year full of uncertainty and as we finally near the end of restrictions and to what we call Freedom Day, you’d be forgiven for thinking nothing good could ever happen.

July 19 is the date on everyone’s mind, where all remaining clubs can finally reopen, and masks and social distancing will no longer be mandatory.

But amid all the chaos, good deeds are still being done around East Lancashire and after the year we’ve had, it’s not hard to see why the simple acts of kindness have touched the recipients.

The Lancashire Telegraph found goodness in these stories –

Debbie Tetlow from Accrington was shopping in Tesco when she became the good Samaritan as well as encountered one.

After seeing two £10 notes fall after a man put his shopping down, she chased him down despite her heavy bags to give him back his money.

It took a while to catch up with him but when she did, she said: “He turned and I explained that I had picked up his money and he just said to me ‘take the money’ and I immediately said ‘no, I really can’t accept it, I just wanted him to have it back.’

“He then replied ‘you have done a good thing and for that I want you to keep it’ he then shoved the money into my carrier bag and walked away and we both just smiled and put our thumbs up at one another.

“It was one of those moments that makes you realise that there are good people in this world and on this occasion we both did a good thing.

“It wasn’t all about me it was about two strangers being kind to each other.”

A four-year-old met a good Samaritan while out at Yates Bakery in Church.

Rose-Marie’s mum Annastasia posted on Facebook about how happy her four-year-old was after a kind woman bought her juice at the bakery they were at.

She said: “We were at Yates bakery in Church. My daughter is 4 and she was ordering herself a brownie and the lady behind us just asked if she would be allowed a drink.

“I confirmed and then she asked my little girl to choose a drink and bought it for her. I thanked the lady, then my little girl said thankyou and she was happy.

“She went outside to tell her dad that the kind lady has bought her some pop like he drinks.”

Jane C from Blackburn was also overjoyed at meeting a good Samaritan at a time of need.

The mum of two was with her three-year-old daughter when she was struggling to carry her bags to her car outside Asda.

She said: “A really kind man came to help me with them. It is not much but in a time like this when I was just feeling stressed out, I think it just made me cry and really touched me.

“It’s nice that there are people still like this that will help us. I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal but to me, it was, and I want to thank this stranger for really making my day.”

These examples of human kindness are just one of many happening around East Lancashire.

Let us know what you or someone else has done for you to show kindness.