Hospital staff return favour to 'Colin the Clapper' after 40-day vigil

‘I don’t think he realises how many people he helped through tough times,’ says NHS worker

Hundreds of NHS staff gathered to applaud a man who clapped outside his local hospital for 40 days in a row.

Colin Wilkinson began paying tribute to workers at Basildon Hospital on Essex on 25 April.

He decided to continue clapping as they arrived for their shifts every morning – until on Wednesday they all decided to return the favour by clapping him.

Dee Saunders, a healthcare assistant at the hospital, said the sight of Mr Wilkinson each day had given her hope.

“It has been hard for us... There have been times I didn’t know what I was going to walk into,” Mrs Saunders said.

“But knowing that when I hit the roundabout just at the opening into the hospital, there was Colin on the green with the banner behind him always with a smile on his face clapping and saying thank you.

“It would give me hope that today was going to be a good one and hope that we were getting closer to the end of this all. I really don’t think he realises how many people he has helped to get through these very tough times.”

Mr Wilkinson was presented with a gift from Basildon mayor David Burton-Sampson and a card from the hospital’s lead chaplain.

He was also photographed wearing a specially-made t-shirt with the slogan “Colin the clapper made the NHS happier”.

Colin Wilkinson clapped NHS workers at Basildon Hospital for 40 days straight. (PA)

Mr Wilkinson told LBC he decided to start clapping workers in April after walking to a rainbow-adorned banner outside the hospital to pray.

“A car went past, I started clapping... another car went past, I clapped again because that’s what we do for the NHS... it just went from there basically,” he said.

Additional reporting by Press Association