I have just finished ploughing through the many superfluous sections of rubbish that one has to lug home from the newsagent with what passes as a Sunday paper these days. The first job on arrival back home is to sort through the large bundle and to fill the recycling bin with the various unwanted advertising inserts, clothes, wines, and gadget mini catalogues, not to mention the acres of plastic wrapping that surrounds this box of delights. Finally, having discarded half a Brazilian rainforest, one finds a section devoted to the news. Now, I am not sure whether it is just my age or the fact that I am living with an incurable illness, but I now only quickly scan the news, as more often than not it seems to be so negative and depressing these days. We see reports about too many of our brave lads dying abroad in foreign wars, our economy in dire straights, house prices one day on the way up and another on the way down. We read about pensioners who have worked all their lives and yet have lost their savings income and are now being held hostage to profit-hungry energy companies.

There are reports about the rise in the number of homeless on the streets of our cities and at the same time about super-wealthy Russians buying up the best properties in London. All this and more, including the appalling saga of MPs’ expenses! Despite the recent global financial crash many still seem to be obsessed with money and the life style that is meant to go with it. We desperately need to see more good news reported which I am convinced will do much to raise our spirits as a nation.

My search for some good news has led me to a particular story that I would like to tell you about. I have mentioned before that I am fortunate enough to belong to a local kidney cancer support group, Friends of Renal Oncology Group (Frog), which has now grown into a kind of caring extended family. Well, from time to time we try and get out together for a social occasion by way of a change from our usual monthly meetings. Last month some 20 of us went to the Deddington Arms Hotel for an evening meal.

It proved to be a lot of fun and a great evening out in comfortable surroundings. The food and wine were superb and the manager and staff very considerate and welcoming. I would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. However, the evening was made even more complete by the attendance of a certain brave young lady, Rhia, who had sadly recently lost her father to kidney cancer and came along to join us.

I had already heard of Rhia’s remarkable exploits as she has raised in excess of £6,000 from sponsored horse riding events and barbecues for Ucare, a local charity for research and education into urological cancers. Additionally, Rhia gave £100 donation to Maggies Centres who provide Frog with a room to hold our monthly meetings. Rhia also presented us with a huge tin of coffee and a mountain of tea bags for our meetings. Rhia is a truly remarkable and very special young lady who has shown real fortitude, generosity and strength of character at such a hard time in her life.

So, you see there are some heart warming news stories out there. The strength of the human spirit never ceases to amaze me especially when times are bad. I think I will give the Sunday papers a miss for the time being.