"A clown is like aspirin, only he works twice as fast"

Groucho Marx

14-year-old comedian Jack Carroll uses humour and playfulness to change the way people view disability. Jack, who has cerebral palsy and uses a walking frame, joked about his condition as part of his comedy routine, when he appeared on ITV talent show, Britain's Got Talent. Jack said; "You can't ignore it and it makes me unique. It's not all about the frame, although I think initially, that makes people feel a bit more comfortable." Jack performed his first gig at 12-years-old during a party to celebrate his parents wedding anniversary. He shot to fame when he won the 'Teenager of Courage Award' at last years Pride of Britain Awards and has recieved accolades from comic royalty such as Alan Carr and Jason Manford. Britain's Got Talent judge and star of comedy series Little Britain, David Walliams was the latest star to give Jack his approval, branding Jack's audition as 'Comedy Genius'.

Inspired by Morgan Spence's Lego animations, pupils in Mrs Murie's class at Calderglen High School dug into a big box of lego and exercised their creative talents.

Thirteen year-old Morgan Spence from Kilbarchan in Renfrewshire has risen to fame after using his creative talents and his collection of Lego to produce a music video for top DJ Paul Oakenfold. The video, which accompanies Oakenfold's new single, Who Do You Love, took over 5 months to make, using a technique known as stop-animation, the same filming process used to create the popular Wallace and Gromit series.

Morgan, who attends Johnstone High School, started making lego animations two years ago when he was in Primary 7 and has now had almost one million hits on YouTube. Morgan was approached by Paul Oakenfold's management about the project after he'd contacted the record company, asking their permission to use one of the DJ's tracks as part of an animated film he was entering in a competition.

At first, the young director was astounded. In an interview with STV, Morgan says, "I thought it was a spam email, I didn't believe it to be honest.". "I've had a love of lego since I was a toddler and I'd seen people on YouTube doing it before, so I thought I'd give it a go. I love working with cameras, filming little lego men goofing about and making people smile!"

Describing the painstaking process of making the film in an interview with Radio Clyde, Morgan says "An hour's worth of work could be a second of film, you're taking pictures as you make slight movements of characters and vehicles; there's 15 pictures for every second of film."

Morgan is nominated in the Arts category of this year's Sunday Mail Young Scot Awards, which will be held in Glasgow at the Clyde Auditorium and Crown Plaza Hotel on the 19th of April. Tickets are available by clicking here.

You can read more about the project and watch Morgan's videos on his company website, Morgspenny Productions, which includes details of how to get started making your own stop-animation film.

We like this advertisement from US insurance company, Liberty Mutual, which highlights the difference made by small acts of kindness in day to day life.

At an assembly dedicated to the Acts of Kindness Project, first year pupils at Calderglen High School explored how even one small act of kindness can make a difference, by building relationships, encouraging to a sense of community and promoting a culture of goodwill. It's predicted that carrying out kind deeds for others will increase the likelihood that they'll do the same, leading to an exponential growth of kindness within our school community.

Hayley Joel Osment in 'Pay it Forward' (Warner Bros. 2000)

We worked out that if each of the 250 pupils present at this morning's assembly did an act of kindness for three other people, a total of 750 acts of kindness would be completed.

If each of those 750 recipients were asked to do the same for another three people, a further 2250 acts of kindness would be completed.

Using some maths, we found that if this continued, 546,750 acts of kindness would be completed by the seventh step in the chain and 819,750 acts of kindness in total!

Take a closer look at our working by downloading slides from our assembly in full:

Love is the character strength which helps us to value relationships with others. It is part of the family of character strengths which also includes Kindness and Social Intelligence.



In celebration of Valentine's Day, we've given away hundreds of packets of Love Hearts to teachers and school staff across East Kilbride as a small token of our gratitude for their hard work. So, even if you don't send a dozen red roses this Valentine's Day, make sure you take some time to appreciate those you have around you :)

In 2005, Stanford University psychologist Sonja Lyubomirsky asked a group of high school students to carry out 5 weekly "random acts of kindness" of their choice over a six-week period. Lyubomirsky found that those students involved in the study reported increased happiness and wellbeing, relative to a control group. Furthermore, it was found that students performing all five acts of kindness in one day benefitted most.

These findings suggest that it is virtually impossible to help others without helping ourselves. Kind acts give us a sense of purpose and have positive social consequences, helping us to build relationships and promoting a culture of goodwill.

Inspired by Lyubomirsky's research, the staff and pupils at Calderglen High School in East Kilbride have started their own kindness project. Pupils have been given small 'act of kindness' cards, to help them notice opportunities to practise kindness and encourage others to do the same. Anyone can take part and its important to remember that even a small gesture, such as a compliment or some words of encouragement, can be enough to make someone smile. You can get your own printer- friendly versions of our cards by clicking here or you might want to design some of your own.

We love to share the fun, imaginative and thoughtful ways in which people have helped others. Tell us about your Acts of Kindness, or express your gratitude, by posting a comment here on our homepage. Alternatively, if you have a picture, or photograph you'd like to post, send it to admin@characterstrengths.co.uk.

Note: Users can post anonymously if they wish, but all comments are moderated and may be edited prior to being added to the site.