Did you know that Thursday March 21 is International Colour Day?

I didn't until I found a website listing all sorts of random national days. The idea of this day was, as I understand,  dreamt up in Portugal in 2008 and is celebrated on March 21 as this is the Spring equinox, when the duration of day and night are almost equal around the world.

Colour is something that really brightens our day and as I look out over a cloudy day in Woking I look for pockets of colour to make me smile. Colour is all around us if we make time to look for it. Maybe its the Spring daffodils in Woking Park, somebody wearing a brightly coloured outfit, or the colourful sets and costumes at a show at the New Victoria Theatre.

As we come out of the darkness of Winter, colour is even more important to lift our spirits.

I remember my late aunt, who for many years had a black and white TV. When that finally broke in the 1990s she got herself a new colour TV and was surprised that the character in her favourite show had a different coloured hair to what she had thought. That proves to me how we need to live our lives in more than black and white. Imagine just how confusing it would be to watch snooker on a black and white TV.

At the Sunnybank Trust coffee and chat club recently, I was recording people’s thoughts on colour and asking which was their favourite. The answers included red because it was the colour of a favourite football team, and blue because it reminds us of a beautiful day and we need the blue sky to come back. For me, the yellow shades of Spring make me happy.

We know how colour lifts our spirits and gives us hope. Just think back to the rainbow drawings which appeared in windows during the pandemic lockdowns.

Colour is important for people with disabilities and sensory conditions.  Cool colours, for example, can reduce stimulation and I have read that some hospitals use blue plates to help patients living with dementia as it makes the food they are eating stand out, meaning that they eat more.

So, next time you go for a walk, look out for the natural colours that are around us and take time to appreciate them. Being out in nature is a good way to lift our mental and physical health.

Listen to the Sunny Sessions, the inclusive radio show from The Sunnybank Trust, on Surrey Hills Community Radio on Mondays and Thursdays at 11am and on the first Monday of each month at 9pm.

Sunny Sessions is also on Radio Woking every Wednesday at 9am. My other Radio Woking shows are Wednesday breakfast 7am-9am and Sunday mornings 9am-noon

If you want to take part in my radio shows, email me at j[email protected].