It saddens me that Thursday, 28 May at 8pm was the last clapping event to honour our NHS staff and workers during the Coronavirus pandemic.

The world has never experienced anything like the Covid-19 outbreak crisis and the lockdown.

The shocking images of empty streets, death, despair and fear left people feeling powerless while the world was trying to contain a deadly virus and racing to come up with a vaccine.

Amongst this tragedy were also images of kindness and beauty during the lockdown like the nation clapping for the NHS, rainbows, angels and written messages that became inspiring and uplifting.

The children’s paintings on walls, windows and school fences in Tadley have captured these images perfectly uplifting the spirit of ordinary people.

It was a way that the general public young and old could express themselves and felt as if they were able to contribute to the crisis in a positive way and the weekly ritual of clapping meant that people could be joined by their neighbours as a group initiative playing their part towards the crisis and bringing the community together.

The weekly clapping for the NHS is something that at least in my neighbourhood residents looked forward to as my partner played live music while I danced on the empty street to a captive audience.

I bow my head to Annemarie Plas, a Dutch national living in South London, whose inspirational idea made everyone feel good about themselves and made NHS staff and workers feel appreciated and, sometimes emotionally overwhelmed.

For some NHS workers who wouldn’t, otherwise, been appreciated received recognition from the public. It taught us to learn to appreciate them even more. The weekly ritual will be greatly missed by many.

Jeannette Schael, Crookham Close, Tadley