As the global pandemic continued to ravage every day life, here at The Rooftop we have tried to provide a daily dose of optimism.

As we go into 2022 we have big plans to roll out a new newsletter, refreshed podcast series and we will continue to post regular stories here and on our social media channels to celebrate the good news worth shouting about.

But in 2021, which were our most popular stories?

Here’s the top five:

A community rowing club’s epic attempts to raise money for a new boatshed showed sport isn’t just about competition, but can have a major positive impact on society.

Plans for a tool library in Brighton and Hove proved popular as ideas around the circular economy and communities working together took hold in 2021.

A health and wellbeing urban pop up in Worthing caught the public’s imagination as people started to get out and about after lockdown.

Efforts by a university to tackle digital exclusion in the community demonstrated the positive impact of higher education in addition to awarding degrees.

The popularity of a story about a new start up, aiming to help families and children with educational needs that can’t be met by mainstream education, showed just how broken the current system is.

And in addition to this top five we also had one more “top story”, which saw the mainstream media focus on a Rooftop exclusive when Prince William made a surprise visit to a homeless shelter.

We’ve loved hearing about your stories in 2021 and look forward to getting even more people’s news worth shouting about heard in 2022. If you do have a story, send us an email to editor [at] therooftop [dot] news.

Image: One of our favourites of the year as the public supported a hospice fundraiser at Cardiff Castle.