AN AWARD-WINNING new social network that encourages generosity and community spirit is coming to Swindon.

Users of the online community Helpfulpeeps offer their time, energy, skills and knowledge to help each other with errands, ideas and goals for similar favours in return.

The network has more than 30,000 members and the website’s founders are hoping to launch in Swindon by the end of March.

Run by just four people, the social network with a difference lets users ask for help with things they’d like to do, such as move furniture, learn an instrument or language, or get together to do something nice for charity, then others nearby offer to help them free of charge.

Co-founder Saf Nazeer, 33, said: “The notion came from the fact that today we are all hyper-connected but there’s a real sense that, despite all this technology, society is more disconnected than ever before.

“We thought it would be cool to use social networks as a force for social good, bring back community spirit, and have people helping each other with things that they enjoy doing, neighbour to neighbour.

“It sounds cheesy, but we believe in charity and human kindness and that, even with all the doom and gloom in the world, people are inherently good.”

Saf and his 29-year-old friend Simon Hills quit their jobs in sales and engineering to create the site, travelling to towns and cities across the country to reach out to community centres, schools, charities and councils for volunteers who act as local ambassadors to keep the Helpfulpeeps community thriving in that area after the tiny tech team move on to the next place.

The Swindon launch will feature a meet-up of these volunteers who, hopefully, will keep meeting (online and offline), helping other residents and spreading the word.

Saf added: “We want to find people who are passionate about their community to join us. We’ll be in town for four weeks, then we pass it on to the people, we want them to feel like this is theirs.

“It’s a great platform to meet people and restore your faith in humanity.”

Helpfulpeeps has grown enormously since it launched two years ago.

In February 2015, the service had 250 members, 100 of which were friends, family and colleagues of Saf, Simon, lead engineer Ed Nelson and head of product Dominic Chapman.

It took 20 months for the website to reach 10,000 members, then two months to reach 20,000, then two weeks to reach 30,000. The ambitious team want to turn it into a global phenomenon.

Visit www.helpfulpeeps.com for more information.