NHS staff at St Helens Hospital were handed £2,500 worth of flowers to thank them for their hard work during the coronavirus outbreak.

The fresh flowers were given to staff on Wednesday, March 25, by Alison and Sean Murphy, owners of Victoria Flowers on George Street, St Helens, to "make something good from something bad".

Sean, 51, who is also a mental health worker for the NHS, said: "Mother's Day is a big day for us at the florist, and we always pre-order our flowers in advance.

"With what has happened people understandably didn't order things but we didn't want to see these beautiful fresh flowers like roses and tulips and huge bouquets go to waste and Alison came up with the idea of making something good come from something bad.

"We had a break in earlier this week as well, so it's been a really hard week for us, but donating all these flowers to the staff working so hard took our low week and made us feel like it was worth it.

"It's an uncertain time for all of us but being able to give something back to the staff meant so much to us.

"Alison has worked at Victoria Flowers from age 16, never had a day off and now she owns it, so if we have to close, it's good to know we are passing on our stock to those who deserve it the most.

"One nurse even said she didn't get to celebrate Mother's Day with being so busy, so we gave her her Mother's Day gift.

"We didn't do it for praise, but knowing the hospital shared our story with the Star makes us feel even better about it. It must have made their day like it made ours."