Couple hand out £10 notes in exchange for acts of kindness

A COUPLE have been spotted handing out envelopes containing a £10 note and a heartwarming letter to strangers in the street.

The anonymous pair were seen handing out envelopes containing a handwritten note and cash in Cwmbran town centre.

Envelopes were addressed “for you” and recipients were urged to carry out a random act of kindness with no expectation of reward.

Harry Britton, from Abertillery, was parked in a layby near Cwmbran bus station when a man approached his window on Thursday.

“I was in Cwmbran picking up my butty from work,” 21-year-old Harry said.

“I was parked by the bus station, sat in the car and minding my own business when an oldish gentleman approached the car and just said, ‘Excuse me this is for you’, and then walked off.”

When he opened the envelope, Harry said he was shocked to find a £10 note and heartwarming handwritten letter.

The letter was signed simply “Paul & Diane” without any surname or detailed explanation.

“He was an oldish man, around 50 or 60, with a walking stick, checked shirt on and beige trousers,” Harry said.

“The note said his name was Paul. I didn’t see any more envelopes but I saw him hand out another two in my mirror.”

He added: “I was taken aback by what had just happened. I rang my friend Rhiannon to tell her what happened, and I couldn’t see the man after that.”

Harry said he parked in the same spot two days later and kept an eye out for the man, but sadly didn’t see him.

“I’ve had a couple of people suggest people who it could be but it’s not them. It may have been a note he had and he passed it on. Who knows? But it was dated.”

Since being given the note, Harry has completed his kind act by helping an elderly lady carry her supermarket shopping to her car.

He rewrote the note and gave it to her, with an added part telling subsequent recipients to write their location on the note to record how far the message travels.

“I feel like if the world had more people in it who carry out random acts of kindness, then it would be a better place to live,” homelessness prevention worker Harry said.

“Doing this line of work, you meet a lot of people with a wide variety of addictions and issues, and without compassion and showing them love and support we can’t help them.”