As the name suggests, at its heart is kindness. We want to encourage people to be kinder to others, to do more good deeds and to make the world a slightly nicer place.

In these cynical and selfish times, this concept may sound a bit naff.

But wait.

While unprompted and selfless acts of generosity do still occasionally happen, we realise people sometimes need a push in the right direction.

So, we have set up the Kindness Club to offer rewards in exchange for good deeds. One good turn deserves another!

The Kindness Club is a community rewards scheme. It’s a bit like a loyalty discount scheme – but with a twist. Only good people earn the privilege of joining.

We have started a list of local businesses prepared to offer discounts and deals exclusively to Kindness Club members, people who prove themselves worthy of joining by doing good deeds.

All the rewards on offer are published on News Shopper’s website for everyone to see – but only club members will be able to claim them.

Can I join the Kindness Club now?

Yes! We have nine businesses signed up so far, and you can start claiming their rewards now.

See the current list of rewards

Start doing good deeds to become one of the first members of our new club. As well as the rewards, you’ll also get a lovely warm feeling inside from helping others and the glory of getting your name on the Kindness Club roll of honour.

How do I join the Kindness Club?

There are three stages to becoming a member.

Firstly, do a good deed. Something unexpected and nice.

Secondly, provide proof of your good deed. Send photographs or video.

Finally, have your good deed approved by News Shopper. Your deed needs to qualify, as we’ll explain.

What good deeds qualify for the Kindness Club?

It’s difficult to say exactly what good deeds will get you in and which won’t at this early stage because who knows what sort of gestures of goodwill people will come up with as word of this fantastic new scheme spreads. However, here is a rough outline of what we mean by qualifying for the Kindness Club.

We’re not asking for anything huge, such as opening your house up as a hostel for the homeless or giving your month’s pay to charity.

But we are looking for more than basic common courtesy towards others, which you should be showing every day as a matter of course. Holding a door open for someone or saying please and thank-you are the very minimum levels of politeness and good manners which you should be displaying anyway without being rewarded for it.

What we’re looking for is good deeds which fall between these two levels of the scale.

So offer to carry an old lady’s shopping, stop and talk to someone who looks unhappy, invite a lonely neighbour to lunch, send a gift to someone you don’t know, buy a coffee for the stranger behind you in the queue – these are all just examples of what you could do, no doubt you can think of better good deeds to do yourself.

You don’t have lavish expensive treats on your friends and family to get in – in fact, the less money involved the better. But your good deed should be something which involves a little bit of personal sacrifice, something which takes you out of your way to help someone, something which sees you put other people first.

Above all, your kind act should put a smile on someone’s face, brighten someone’s day or make someone’s life just a little bit better than it was before you came along.

Why do I need to prove I’ve done a good deed and what proof do I need to provide?

This whole scheme is based on goodwill and we hope people will be honest about the good deeds they do. But anyone can say they’ve done something nice, and we want to make it a bit more formal than that.

Besides, it will be great fun to see the smiling, grateful faces of people who have been on the receiving end of an unexpected good deed.

Plus we want to collate all the evidence of good deeds to show the positive impact of the Kindness Club, which will hopefully inspire other people to get involved.

The proof we want is pretty straightforward – just send either photos or video footage of your good deed in action. You might want to draft a friend or colleague in to help record what you get up to.

How do I apply to join the Kindness Club?

Write down a few details about yourself and the good deed you’ve done. Send this, along with your photos or video, in an email to web editor Simon Bull.

You’ll be notified if you’ve become a new member of the Kindness Club and you’ll then be sent a certificate so you can claim your rewards.

I run a business, how do I get involved in the Kindness Club?

Think of a reward which your business could offer to Kindness Club members. Just like the good deeds people are doing, your reward does not have to of epic proportions. It can be something small yet lovely.

For example, it could be a discount for members to use when they visit your shop. Or it could be a free bottle of wine for members when they have a meal at your restaurant. Depending what your business is, the reward could be free tickets or free entry, it could be buy one get one free on certain products, it could be an additional service for free.

You can decide if your reward is a one-time offer or something which can be redeemed by each person more than once. And you can decide how long the reward is valid for.

Once you’ve got your reward in mind, get in touch with web editor Simon Bull or phone him on 01689 885713 to arrange getting signed up to the scheme. You’ll be given a poster to display somewhere to let people know you are part of the Kindness Club.

What benefits are there for my business by being part of this?

There are not many better ways for a business to enhance its reputation than to be seen to be part of the community it serves. Being part of the Kindness Club will be a great way to build up goodwill with local people.

Your business will gain extra exposure from being involved. As well as publicising the good deeds of the Kindness Club members, we’ll also be looking to publicise the generosity of all the businesses involved. Your business details will be added to the rewards page online which will list all the companies taking part so being involved could be a useful way to promote what you do. We will look to do news articles from time to time showing how Kindness Club rewards are being used.

As well as good publicity, you may also get extra trade from being involved. Providing a discount or offer may cost you a little bit of money, but you may also gain a lot of new customers who would not normally use your business. If you offer 10 per cent off in your shop to Kindness Club members, they could still spend money with you which they would not otherwise do.

Being an ambassador of kindness could have its rewards for you too!