BBC News Online is exploring new ways of covering grassroots civic activity in the UK.

Every day untold numbers of Britons give up some of their time to campaign for countless causes: from a letter-writing campaign for a new village hall to protest marches against war.

So, at the end of 2002 we asked our users to tell us of their activities and received dozens of replies. We chose a handful of these campaigns and plan to follow their ups and downs over the next three to four months.

The campaigns we selected are (click on the campaign headings for more details):

A local group worried about the effects of dredging for sand near the Gower peninsula in South Wales.

A group opposed to the expansion plans for Stansted airport.

A Manchester-based group providing advice and support to the families of prisoners.

A group opposed to the expansion of the M74 motorway through the south of Glasgow.

A group of Londoners trying to get the concerns of ethnic minorities heard at top levels of decision-making in the capital.

Campaigners will write articles and diaries, post their campaign pictures and tell you how they are getting on. We also hope that you will engage with them along the way, with comments, questions and suggestions.

Why are we doing this?

We think there is a wealth of interesting grassroots campaigning going on and we want to engage with those campaigners to bring their activities and stories to a wider audience.

This is also part of a wider BBC effort to make the coverage of politics more relevant to ordinary people.

So bookmark the campaign pages and come back to them for regular updates.