newsLate night applause in Britain for doctors and nurses working to save our lives
At 8pm on Thursday, as darkness fell across the UK, millions of people stood at their front doors and open windows, in gardens and on balconies, to raise a thunderous applause of gratitude for those working on the frontline of the fight against coronavirus, says a treport in today’s The Guardian ( 27th March, 2020).
The exuberant din of hand clapping, cheering, hoots and whistles resounded along streets that had been eerily hushed for most of the day.
From city centres to genteel suburbs and village high streets, the explosion of gratitude for the National Health Service (NHS) staff, care workers, pharmacists and supermarket staff was heartfelt and heavy with emotion as the country struggles to absorb the enormous, unprecedented changes of the past weeks.
In individual isolated households the sound was amplified by television, and radio stations paused their programming. Some hung handmade banners of thanks out of windows and across porches, others posted footage of their streets online, adding to the sense of collective appreciation.
The organiser of the viral campaign, Annemarie Plas, a Dutch woman living in south London, said she was “so grateful” to see what originated as an idea between a few friends reach national proportions. Plas was inspired by similar efforts from her friends and family in the Netherlands, as well as watching footage of people coming together to thank their health professionals in Spain and France.