A couple of times now I’ve been invited by Frelsens Hær, The Salvation Army in Denmark, to help document what has become an annual fixture in their calendar. With the enormous support of the Lego Group, and with a vast number of buses and coaches, thousands of disadvantaged families are given a day out at the theme park devoted to the brick. Everything is literally awesome!

The day is such fun that it barely registers as ‘work’, though that does risk underplaying the huge amount of planning and preparation (and on the day coordination) that a large team invests.

The outing is designed to help empower families and restore dignity. Legoland is so ubiquitous in Danish culture that there is a risk of exclusion for those not able to afford tickets. And as well as admission, generous donors provide each family with vouchers valid in the theme park’s many restaurants, snack stalls and sweet shops. This has led to some unintended hilarity, with some families’ only experience of dining out being predicated on TV shows, and therefore clicking their fingers and calling ‘garçon’ to attract attention. Fortunately, the Legoland staff take this in their stride and genuinely love the day The Salvation Army visits.

Waiting outside the main entrance as opening time ticks closer, it’s easy to see why. As each coach disgorges its passengers, a team of Salvation Army volunteers check names off lists and issue the tickets to broad smiles and palpable excitement. And then attendees melt into the crowds and become ’normal’ theme park-goers. They are the same as everyone else, able to enjoy the rides they want, able to eat the meal they want. It is truly levelling.

So after a Facebook Live hit at the entrance with organiser Lars Lydholm and filming the bus ballet in the parking lot, it’s actually quite difficult to pin down members of the Salvation Army party until they leave the park at the end of the day. Then begins the logistical challenge of reuniting each person with the correct bus, for journeys home to every part of Denmark.

I said ‘levelling’. Maybe that’s not quite true. The smiles have not diminished throughout the day, perhaps just augmented by candy floss around young mouths! But I think it may also add a skip to the step of participants way in to the following week, and beyond.

Lars tells the story of an occasion where, for operational reasons, Legoland needed to host The Salvation Army the day before its season properly began. One young mother was therefore seeking permission from her child’s nursery to take the day off. The teacher looked concerned: ‘I don’t think Legoland is open that day.’ The mother quickly retorted: ‘Well, it is for ME.’ What a moment of skyrocketing self-esteem for a young woman in a vulnerable situation.

It’s been so wonderful to see this kind of enriching activity firsthand. It’s probably not the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of The Salvation Army, but – in my view at least – it’s right up there with ‘most important’.

Tak, Danmark.