ON SUNDAY, November 21, thousands of people from the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain and Jewish communities took part in a day of volunteering and social action.

It was a demonstration that Big Society is not just a political statement, but something that can work in practice.

National Sewa Day, like Mitzvah Day, aimed to get local communities to take the responsibility for overcoming the challenges of disadvantage and deprivation by harnessing resources and talents that exist within them.

At the start of Interfaith Week, for one day at least, National Sewa Day leveraged the support and talents in the communities to good for the country.

The events aimed to achieve at least one of the guiding principles - of relieving hardship and poverty; bringing a little joy where none exists or helping the environment. One element it did not include was fundraising, as this was an opportunity to give back by giving up something just as valuable - time.

Projects undertaken on the day included tree planting in local parks, building a garden in a citizens advice centre, collection of old mobile phones and batteries for safe disposal and recycling, cleaning communal areas and removing graffiti from walls, painting murals in schools, old people's homes etc, conducting concerts for elderly and disabled people, organising yoga workshops in orphanages and youth centres and helping with soup kitchens.

Nationally, more than 5,000 people from more than 100 cultural, community and faith organisations volunteered a variety of projects throughout the UK, including Bradford, Oldham, Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester, Northampton, Luton and across London.

The community came out on National Sewa Day to do an amazing thing - giving up their valuable time to serve others in their community. Importantly it has generated considerable good will across all communities and brought us all a little bit close.

So I'd like to thank everyone who took part and supported the first ever National Sewa Day.

ARUP GANGULY Chairman of National Sewa Day