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”.
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
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