PORTRAITS of Warrington Hospital workers who fought on the frontline of the coronavirus pandemic will be displayed in Warrington Museum upon its reopening.

Derek Dick’s Undivinable exhibition had only just opened at the museum when the Covid-19 lockdown first struck in March.

When visitors are welcomed back next week, the Birchwood artist’s collection of portraits will go back on show to the public.

And there will be an additional three pieces on display, all depicting NHS staff who have been working tirelessly and putting their own safety at risk for our benefit during the coronavirus outbreak.

Among these subjects are Lauren Mahoney and Paul Greenalgh, operating department practitioners at Warrington Hospital.

Paul, from Penketh, ordinarily works as an orthopaedic surgical practitioner at the Cheshire and Merseyside Treatment Centre in Runcorn but was seconded to the Lovely Lane site at the height of the pandemic.

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He said: “It’s been a very strange few months and very stressful.

“It’s been extremely tough, we’ve all been working outside of our comfort zones and I’ve been doing tasks that I haven’t done in 20 years.

“There’s been some really good teamwork among the staff.

“It is frightening, but it’s what we’re trained to do and you’ve just got to get on with it.

“The portraits are fantastic, Derek has done a great job and really captured the moment.”

Lauren added: “I thought it would be a good way of capturing what’s gone on in the world, because it is going to be history in the future.”

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Derek also featured own niece Lorna Ellwood – who is currently working as a doctor in New Zealand, having been stranded in the country while visiting family – in the exhibition.

He said: “It’s a nice way of saying thank you.

“These guys have worked horrendously long hours and seen horrendous things, and some of them are really young as well.

“They can’t go home and give their mum and dad a hug, because they don’t want to pass the virus on.

“We can all stand on our doorsteps and bang our pots and pans, but us artists want to do something as well.”

Derek will also display 10 newly-created ‘lockdown miniatures’, made using toilet paper, as part of the rejigged exhibition.

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The former Warrington Museum manager added: “Each one is drawn on a single sheet of toilet paper before being pasted on to a gold painted board.

“It just seemed appropriate and relevant at the time to use toilet paper as the medium to draw on – it had become a symbol of the early stages of the pandemic and the must have item.”

Warrington Museum reopens on Wednesday, July 8, with social distancing measures in place.

Derek Dick's Undivinable runs until Sunday, August 16.