Bear Grylls, Ainsley Harriott and Michael Sheen joined by Crawley father and son volunteering duo in backing campaign to say ‘Thank You’ across the UK

With communities in the UK looking forward to enjoying greater freedom to meet and socialise this summer, a campaign to say ‘thank you’ to those in our local communities who helped us though the crisis has received a groundswell of support, especially in Crawley.

The campaign is calling on people to mark the day by getting together with their neighbours, friends and family and joining in a huge nationwide thank-you.

The Thank You day campaign is being led in Crawley by Sonny Purba who is part of a team of Royal Voluntary Service volunteers in West Sussex that support socially isolated people and has been calling in to chat and providing practical help.

Sonny has been joined in his work as a volunteer by his A-Level student son, Sameer, and he would like to thank teachers for keeping education on track over the past year thanks to a huge effort on their part.

Sonny said: “We all want to say thank you to someone. For me, it’s primarily the teachers, my wife being one of them.

"I’d like to say thank you for keeping the education system going while schools were closed with online classes.

"The countless school hours they’ve put in so we can carry on with some sort of education online is fantastic.

“I’ve been making telephone calls for the past year for Royal Voluntary Service and hoping that the temperature picks up so I can sit in the garden with people.

"I’ve been keeping in touch over the phone and enjoying some interesting conversations. There’s over 100 of us registered as volunteers in Crawley.