Now and again, we get the opportunity to see something spectacular. A great save by some desperate goal keeper if you are a football fan.

An impossible marathon done in great style and pace. We call the people who achieve these feats Stars and often applaud them in and out of the arena of their performances.

I enjoy such occasions too but over time, I have come to appreciate even the more, what I call “The Belated Applause”. It is that moment you are too stunned by the act you could not respond in time.

It is only after your initial shock and you hear the increasing rumbling of applause from all sides that you are able to join in the applause.

This often happens at Games; Theatres etc. You can picture the moment or remember a few rare occasions you have witnessed such.

Even more than “The Belated Applause” (TBA) is my respect and awe at what I also describe as “Belated Quiet Applause” (BQA). This happens when you have witnessed the incredible, unexpected and beyond words acts of greatness.

These do not come on managed stages or shrouded in some glamourous coatings. Natural, non-pretentious acts of greatness that is often unique as the individual who carried it out.

You are too stunned to utter a word and even when you recover from the shock, you are simply lost for words. In your heart, the applause goes on and on.

In my Nine plus years of living in Cirencester, I have had a good number of BQA moments. Several names run through my head and a smile crosses my face each time I think of these people and what they represent in my mind.

The applause in my heart, (though inaudible) just can’t stop. In no particular order, my BQA goes to Kim Gentil of Bridal studio, Cirencester.

I have witnessed her great acts of kindness to people. I think of the man in the rear end of Bishop Walk who fixed my iPad and trusted me to pay later when he hardly knows me.

There is that wonderful couple, Nigel and wife of Birt’s Burger on Wilkinson Road. They feed starving souls in Love Lane Estate. I once took my friend, Matt Frost there and what a treat!

Lyn Gillet, formerly of Cirencester Standard will blush when you say she has done wonderfully well but so she did. She kept our community column going even in difficult times.

Margaret Gaerney, Fiona Hocken and Sue Dowling all of New Life Church, Cirencester, an uncommon trio of helping hands who encourage so many people in numerous ways. MG at over 80 helps Foreign students who still keep in touch years after they have graduated and gone back home.

A certain family with “Wispa” cup brewing tea and help for needy souls. The “Bread and Water” friends on Albion Street. “Those Americans” all retired men yet never tire to help people and a certain “Farmer” that I don’t know what they farm from Bibury.

The “Prof” with curly hair, his lovely wife and their dog who I can safely mention her name, Millie as she won’t blush.

Then there is that ageless God-loving woman who rides a bicycle about yet has brought joy and help to so many in Cirencester and beyond UK. God bless all you wonderful quiet people of Cirencester!

Who says Cirencester is full of snubs? We are just in BQA mode, let our kind acts continue!

 

Kola Tayo

New Life Church, Cirencester