Heart-warming stories of 2015

After a year of terror and sadness, we would like to celebrate the kindness. Here are our top 5 stories to give you faith in our human race.

A stranger brought joy to a mugged pensioner’s life

When 21-year-old Katie Cutler heard how a mugger viciously attacked disabled pensioner Alan Barnes on his doorstep she wanted to find a way to help. She set up an online donation page to raise £500, but a week later she was handing over a cheque for £330,000. The money allows him to move away from the house that holds such bad memories – and closer to his new friend Katie.

A model with Down’s syndrome made fashion history

Jamie Brewer is best known for her acting work – but in February she became the first person with Down’s syndrome to walk the runway at New York Fashion Week. Designer Carrie Hammer asked Jamie to wear a black belted A-line dress on the catwalk as part of the “Role Models Not Runway Models” campaign – and she absolutely stole the show:

Mum on train left £5 and a note

Sammie Welch, 23, was given a scribbled note by a stranger as she sat cuddling her three-year-old son Rylan on a train. When she took a closer look she was shocked to find a £5 note with the words: “Have a drink on me, you’re a credit to your generation, polite and teaching the little boy good manners.” The pair were later reunited, giving Sammie a chance to thank Ken Saunders for the “amazing” gesture.

Kitten stops traffic

A motorcyclist stopped traffic to help a lost kitten. When he spotted the kitten in the middle of a busy intersection, he got cars to stop so he could successfully rescue it.

‘They might have guns, but we have flowers’

Following the deadly Paris attacks, a father’s message to his young son that love is stronger than violence went viral. The two had come to light a candle at a memorial when a touching impromptu moment was captured by news cameras for French TV show Le Petit Journal. When a reporter asked the boy if he understood why the terrorists attacked, he answered that it was because they were “very, very, very mean” and his family would have to change homes now. His dad tried to comfort him, assuring him they wouldn’t have to move. When the boy expressed concern about the “bad guys” and their guns, his dad said: “Well, they might have guns, but we have flowers.” The boy still wasn’t convinced at first but bought into the idea by the end of the exchange, which has been shared close to 18 million times on Facebook.

Let’s all hope 2016 is filled with more stories like these and less of the bad!

Happy New Year from Towan Insurance.