About LittleBlueCup

As the story travelled, it began reaching people who actually had the cup.

Some had one stored at home. Others found one through relatives, friends, shops or people elsewhere in their community. Cups were found and sent from around the world, including from as far away as Australia.

In total, we received 86 cups.

Most of those cups were found because somebody shared the story with somebody else, who shared it again, until it reached the right person.

That remains one of the most important lessons behind LittleBlueCup: you do not have to own the item to help find it. Sharing the Search may be the action that carries it to somebody who does.

After #CupForBen, parents began contacting me to ask whether I could help with their Searches too.

Until then, I had not understood how many other families were facing the same problem: an exact item had been lost, damaged, discontinued or worn out, and a similar replacement simply did not work.

I did not have a secret formula for making another Search go viral. I still do not.

What I did have was experience of explaining why an item mattered, an audience willing to share, and proof that a story could travel through enough people to reach somebody with the right item.

So I began helping where I could.

Most people who see a Search will not have the item. But one of them may share it with somebody who knows somebody who does. Every share creates another route towards the right person.

The more people who look, remember, ask and share, the more chances a Search has to reach somebody who can help.

As more families asked for help, LittleBlueCup became increasingly difficult to manage with the tools and systems I had at the time.

Much of the work had to be done manually. Searches, messages, photographs, offers, updates and quantities all had to be kept organised while new requests continued to arrive.

There have also been periods when I needed to step back for my health. Those pauses were necessary, but the reason LittleBlueCup mattered never went away.

I am now in a much better place and committed to this relaunch.

This is not simply the old project being switched back on. LittleBlueCup has been rebuilt around a purpose-made platform that can carry far more of the repetitive organisation and help me support Searches more consistently.

The pauses gave me time to understand what LittleBlueCup needed in order to return properly, not merely return quickly.

This platform is not being built once and then abandoned.

LittleBlueCup will continue to develop as families, people offering help and moderators use it. Processes will be improved, useful tools will be added and problems will be fixed as they become clear.

The aim is not to chase endless features. It is to keep making Searches easier to manage, safer to share and more likely to reach the right people.

LittleBlueCup should grow by learning from the people who actually use it.

LittleBlueCup is my project. I set its rules, make the final decisions and take responsibility for how it is run.

LittleBlueCup may grow into a larger team. The people who work on it will bring their own care, judgement, skills and experience, and we will use carefully chosen technology to make the work safer and easier to organise.

But responsibility will never disappear into a committee, an algorithm or a faceless organisation.

The final responsibility is mine. If LittleBlueCup gets something wrong, I will own it, investigate it and do everything reasonably possible to put it right.

Families, searchers and supporters deserve to know who is accountable. That person is me.

People search harder when they understand why something matters.

A photograph may help someone recognise an item. A story may help them understand why finding it matters.

Photos, clips, voice notes and stories can help people understand who they are helping, but families decide what they share. Nobody should feel pressured to disclose more than feels right.