Happinews - April 24

This Wednesday was the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, an annual event marked around the world to demonstrate support for green issues such as action on climate change and environmental protection. Every year on the 22nd April and in some cases across the whole of 'Earth Week', various communities in more than 190 countries take on projects to raise awareness and drive transformative change for the planet.

Earth Day may never have started when it did if not for a disaster in January 1969. A massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California caused problems for marine life and inspired the Americans to take action for the environment. The first Earth Day was held a year later and went global in 1990 in its first major international campaign.

There are lots of things you can do at home to help the environment and contribute to climate and environmental campaigning. Finding Fairies promotes recycling and nature friendly projects to help the Earth and its wildlife. Follow us on social media for crafty ideas including recycling projects such as a novel idea about up-cycling your old VHS tapes, which we will publish soon.

Last night's 'Big Night In' was watched by an average of 6.9 million people, peaking at 8.5 million. Talk about a captive audience. The charity telethon, a joint programme with Comic Relief and Children in Need, the first time the two charities have collaborated together, was a fantastic night of entertainment featuring comedy inspired by great shows of the past such as Little Britain and The Vicar of Dibley and new stars such as Youtuber Joe Wicks. The night reportedly raised £27.4 million for great causes.

Yesterday was also St George's Day. Did you know that Saint George isn't just the patron saint of England? He's also celebrated in Portugal, Germany, Lithuania, Palestine and Greece just to name a few countries. He is the patron saint of the Spanish regions Catalonia and Aragon. The country of Georgia actually may have been named after him. But did he actually slay a dragon? Well no one knows for sure but that particular legend and any mention of a dragon doesn't appear in history until many centuries later.

Finally, last week we brought you news that the people of Clydach Vale have been building their own 'pathway of hope' to show support for vital workers. The path made of colourful painted stones has grown significantly this week and we had to show you another picture. If there are any community projects in your area that share love and creativity we'd love to hear about them. Send them to us and we might write about them in a future blog post.