🌿 What’s This All About?

Well, this is a story about some leaflets in shop windows and a certain LuckyStar — for The Big Green Week, which is a nationwide event that has nothing to do with politics.

Just over two years ago, I was asking big shops and local ones about putting leaflets in their windows, and basically, all of them said no. I was expecting that — my site was so fresh and new.

So I started trying to come up with ideas to prove to them that we can make a difference in the local community. Sometimes, just a simple leaflet in a window could make someone smile — and maybe even change their whole day.

🔁 Year Two — A Very Different Story

The second year, I tried again.

And this time, I managed to get over 60 local and big shops to put our leaflet in their window. Literally in the space of one year — visiting these shops maybe three or more times each — I’d built up a pretty good impression with most of the managers and owners.

And I was about to tell them a story they’d never forget — #hopefully.

❌ Politics? Nope. Just People.

There’s a national event every year called The Big Green Week, and again — it’s not involved with or affiliated to any kind of politics.

Affiliation is a big part of this story, and rightly so. Ironically, it was the thing stopping the leaflets at the beginning — but ended up helping them at the end, ha!

🌟 Enter: LuckyStar

The big story I was telling them was about a certain individual — someone who goes round their local community doing litter picking, community gardens, being an activist on climate change, part of community groups, high-level sports involvement, respected religious involvement — basically, an all-round super special person.

And honestly, I think even in the world of tech, we still have the same kind of person — with a similar résumé — in most local communities on the Wirral.

Well, I was lucky enough to meet someone like this. Let’s call her LuckyStar.

🧍‍♂️ Just a Simple Man… on CCTV

When I then told all the shops how amazing LuckyStar is — and that they’ve probably already seen her around doing community things — I also said:

“Today, I’m just a simple man, asking you to put up a leaflet. A leaflet about an amazing story — a community helper of many years — someone we should all be helping together.”

And then I added:

“This avoids all affiliation — because I’m just a simple man on your CCTV, telling a goodwill story.”

🧠 Managers, Meetings, and Momentum

At this point — it’s up to us as humans. We either care, or we don’t care. It’s been as simple as that.

I’ve met some very not-nice managers. But the good managers? They certainly outweigh the bad — maybe 8 good to 2 bad.

And the CCTV says it all — because the amount of shops that know me now, after two years, is actually impressive, ha!

I’ve now met four regional managers on my travels. And all of them gave me a 10-minute face-to-face meeting. Not a phone call. Not the internet. Just chance — that I bumped into them in a shop. And they really showed amazing care.

I told them about LuckyStar. I told them about my cheeky way to avoid affiliation. And they agreed — to let the leaflet go up. It became the first ever community leaflet in that supermarket window. Ever!

🛍️ Community Shops, But No Community Leaflets?

It was a first for lots of shops. Shops that supported LuckyStar and The Big Green Week — shops that had never had a leaflet in their window before.

Doesn’t that sound a bit weird?

A community shop… has never had a community leaflet in their community shop window.

Next time you visit a shop — just have a look in the window. Look for a community leaflet. And you’ll understand. ; )

🧼 Call to the Cheeky Cleaners of Wirral

I think if a few more cheeky window cleaners like me step up — and help get amazing community helpers like LuckyStar heard — then we could see some very bright community creativity in those windows.