Meet the Mirfield woman who sold her Bradford home to spread joy in a bright yellow van

For more than a year now, Kelly Williams has been driving the length and breadth of the country on a mission to spread joy.

The 45-year-old former postwoman, originally from Mirfield, sold her house in the Bradford village of Wilsden to buy a bright yellow van so she could drive across the UK striking up conversations with strangers and handing out sunflowers.

Since June last year she has been on the road, maintaining the unconventional lifestyle by being “carried by the kindness of others” –looking for a places to park the van, a bed for the night, a shower, a food parcel or sometimes donations towards fuel costs.

During her travels in what she called the Yellow Van of Love, she has organised community events, creating ‘Happy Benches’ – on which she ties a note encouraging people to chat with others – and leaving small acts of kindness such as gifting her sunflowers. She is yet to have a negative experience, she says, having met people she never would have expected to, such as a firewalker, rockabillies, musicians and plenty more who have responded to her call for friendship.

She first travelled up the east coast of England to Scotland – the scenery of which has been a highlight – before coming back down on the west side and “zig-zagging” around, and is now heading south.

She has been charting her journey online using the hashtag #YellowVanOfLove which allows people to keep track of where she will next park up the van and join her.

Kelly says that it is partly about combating loneliness, not just for herself but others.

She adds: “You don’t have to be in your 80s to feel loneliness, you can be in your 20s and your 40s and feel lonely, and I think that because I have felt that loneliness, if I can to do anything to combat that and stop other people feeling lonely, I think that’s a big reason as to why I’m doing what I’m doing.”

After being a postie, Kelly became a happiness coach and has set up Happy Friends meeting groups in Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees.

The sunflowers she hands out are in tribute to her late friend Simon Bromley, after seeds were handed out at his funeral service.

While she can’t estimate how many miles she has travelled so far, in terms of where her trip might take her, it’s “destination unknown”, says

Kelly, who is keeping her passport in the van just in case she wants to head overseas.

“We all have a little voice inside of us that has these ideas and that says, ‘Go on, do it, do it’ and then what usually happens is the head kicks in.”

She adds: “What I’ve got really, really good at is listening to that little voice inside, that I think kind of knows the way, so I suppose I’ve really cultivated that little voice over the years and followed those impulses when they’ve come along.”

Kelly is also crowdfunding her travels and her page can be found at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/kelly-williams-spreadalittlesunshinehappyu