Celebrate parish and town councils during #OurDay

#OurDay is a 24-hour tweetathon aimed at raising the profile of the great work done every day by people working in councils and other public services.

Organised by our colleagues at the Local Government Association, it's not just for the big boys! Parish and town councils should get involved too and tell the story of how they are making a difference locally, shouting loud about their unsung heroes working hard to improve lives and communities.

Last year's #OurDay saw 3,500 contributors, nearly 11,00 tweets and an amazing reach of 3 million.

One of the 'Top Town Tweeps' of 2013 was Buckingham Town Council clerk Chris Wayman. His fly-on-the-wall tweets provided an insight into the variety of his role and the work of the town council, from neighbourhood planning to local democracy week, from community events to the civic mace!

Cllr Ken Browse, Chairman of NALC said: "#OurDay is fantastic yet simple way of shining a spotlight on the great work of the most local part of local government, our town and parish councils.

"#OurDay is a chance for the backbone of our democracy – England's 9,000 grassroots councils and their 80,000 local councillors – to tell their story. Whether it's providing play and leisure facilities for the young and the old or organising community events to bring people together, or giving grants to community organisations, town and parish councils work really hard to improve quality of life.

"I want to see as many councils, councillors and clerks as possible taking part in #OurDay and demonstrating just how they are improving their communities. Social media use in our councils is growing as it's such an easy and effective way to communicate with local people and organisations."

It's really easy to join in – just share your stories on Twitter using the hashtag #OurDay throughout Wednesday 26 November 2014.

This year LGA have produced a toolkit to help councils promote #OurDay with content you can customise and tailor yourself, including posters, a stamp for your website and some handy Twitter guidance and Tweet top tips.