A volunteer is battling doom and gloom and bringing happiness to Harrow, one hug at a time.
Delia Cazzato became a full-time carer for her 12-year-old son Antonio when he was born with brain damage, but when the time came for him to attend school, she needed to find another way of contributing towards society.
"It left me on a bit of a downer," she said. "It was a period of transition in my life where it seemed everything had changed and I was just thinking: 'How else can I contribute'.
"That was when I found the Hugs For Harrow campaign."
The idea behind the project – a sister organisation of the national Action for Happiness Campaign – is to make Harrow a happier place to live and work by giving out free hugs in the street.
The group have also recently met for High Five Friday's and Street Smiles, where they stood by Katie's statue in St Ann's Road smiling at passers by.
Initially finding them on the social media website Twitter, Mrs Cazzato, of Vale Croft, Pinner, asked if she could come along in February last year, and it has transformed her life since.
She said: "It felt like such an odd thing to do at first. I was very nervous the night before but I got my husband to make a 'Free Hugs' sign for me and since then I have become really good friends with some of the members.
"I had never done anything like it before. I hug my family all the time but a random stranger is a little different.
"I remember while I was doing it I just said 'oh my God this is really nice' and after my first day I just came home and felt really good, and that it was such a positive way to spend some of your time.
"I think that if more people did things like these, instead of moaning about this and that, we could make Harrow such a nicer place."
Are you interested in joining the Hugs for Harrow campaign? If so, get in touch with them on Twitter @HappyHarrow.
