Many of you would’ve heard about FaceBook pages that support the local communities in different aspects, whilst also giving them the latest news about what’s happening locally. One of these pages is called ‘Spotted: Crawley’. I had the incredible opportunity to interview the creator of the page: Dan Armstrong.

 

From the interview I found out that he created the page in May, 2013, as he was inspired by other ‘Spotted’ pages for other nearby local communities and noticed that Crawley didn’t have one at the time. Ever since then he’s been running ‘Spotted: Crawley’ 

 

According to Mr Armstrong at the beginning, ‘Spotted: Crawley’ was more of a comedy page, but after lockdown it became the community hub it is today. Per week, there are (give or take) 200 posts each featuring a large variety of content. They range from lost dogs to found purses and feature 10 businesses each week from our community. 

 

I asked him what post he’s made that he believes is most impactful and he said that at the beginning of lockdown, ‘Spotted: Crawley’ encouraged a real atmosphere of community and togetherness around Crawley. This led to the “NHS CLAP” videos being created from residents all across our town, and in doing so united it during the difficult times. 

 

When I asked Mr Armstrong how he feels about running such an influential page he said “Mainly proud, not of me or my achievements, but the amazing community we have in Crawley. I’m the lucky person who gets to shine a spotlight on that!” 

 

‘Spotted: Crawley’ has supported the local community in so many ways, from smaller things such as lost wallets, keys and purses to pointing out flaws and issues within our town and sharing the latest news. It keeps the sense of community high within the town (ask anyone from Crawley and they would’ve atleast have heard about it) and helps us keep the community a pleasant place. It has an amazing influence on the community and it’s a safe space for people who need help.