The beauty of the Basket Brigade at Christmas!

Image courtesy of Chris Sharp / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Christmas is not too far away now and many people will be waking up looking forward to the festivities of tomorrow, the presents underneath the tree, the juicy turkey and, in the United Kingdom and across the Commonwealth, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's speech on her Diamond Jubilee year.

But for many people, Christmas will be a bitter, difficult and lonely experience. With the global economic crisis taking its toll on individuals and families, many people cannot afford to fully take part in the celebrations. With the loss of loved ones, many older people will be alone this festive season. With the threat of re-possessions and the occurrence of other unfortunate circumstances, many people will be homeless. Such obscene injustice. Such inhumanity. Such sadness.

However, a group of heroic individuals across these islands and beyond have played their part to ensure that they can put a smile on those people's faces. During my time in Birmingham, I had the pleasure and joy of attending the Birmingham Yes Group. Running on the first Thursday of each month, individuals from many walks of life get together to engage in positive thinking and building a positive style in their lives so that they can move forward.

The group is run voluntarily and every month a speaker provides a talk in front of the audience - there are a variety of styles and topics of speeches, from how to see life in a positive way, how to adopt techniques to make life more enjoyable and productive, how to adopt techniques to handle potentially negative and difficult situations and how to achieve sustained happiness in life.

Every year at Christmas time, the Yes Group in Birmingham run the annual Birmingham Basket Brigade. Basket Brigade is a phenomenon initiated by motivational speaker Tony Robbins and since it began it has grown! In 2011, the Birmingham group helped 300 families, delivering food hampers to each of them. Robbins himself once said:

“Everyone has a need to contribute. It is one of the six human needs. If you give from your heart, it will come back to you tenfold.”

Tony Robbins


Many other Yes Groups all over the country and beyond run very similar events. This really is the symbolic of what an event like Christmas should be all about. Thinking about others. Putting yourself in other people's shoes. Humbling yourself. The world is full of so many problems that should never have existed in the first place and Christmas should be a time when people should put their own priorities aside and think about others.

These people are an absolute asset to our planet and I salute them enormously.

Happy Christmas!