I live in a rural seaside town and have seen compassion and generosity from both sides of the fence so to speak with a problem I have had. My church have been fantastic with their support, indeed the ethos with the LDS church is to willingly be of service. But so have the locals in Penzance where I live – most of whom do not have any religious affiliation or belief whatsoever. Yes, there was an emotional component as I have a brain tumour and wanted to raise awareness about the disease as well as to raise funds for two charities that have been of great help to me. But even so, I think its embedded in the culture where I live to ‘band together’ and help one another when the chips are down.

One would like to think that individual compassion and giving flows right across the board as you say, hopefully being almost innate as well as taught by those around us.