CORONAVIRUS: Plan for convoy of thanks to Pilgrim Hospital

They will be driving through the town to reach the hospital in time for the Clap for Carers at 8pm tonight.

And they will be presenting hospital staff with a selection of personal gifts after raising hundreds of pounds through fundraising.

Organisers stress the event will be done with full social distancing in place throughout.

One, Barry Disdel, said this would be the last in a number of convoys that had been organised by local businessmen, including himself, Sam Crane and Gary Goldsmith, as the original organiser of the Clap for Carers campaign had suggested this should be the last clap event.

He said they were planning to gather at B&Q in Boston tonight from 7pm, setting off to the hospital around 7.30.

Tonight’s event has particular significance for Barry, as his daughter Samantha works at the hospital, and her grandfather, Dennis Pearson, has recently been a patient fighting for his life with Covid-19 in Pilgrim.

Dennis, who has now been released, will be there tonight to say his own personal thank you.

The Clap for Carers takes place at 8pm tonight. People are urged to stand on their doorsteps, at their gates, or at their windows and join in.

Alison Marriot, of local campaign group SOS Pilgrim – Call To Action, helped co-ordinate word of the campaign spreading around the Boston district.

She said on the group’s Facebook page that it had been suggested from the woman who first came up with the idea that tonight’s should be the last one.

“You may have seen that the lady who is said to have started the Clap for Carers, is suggesting tonight’s Clap should be the last weekly one. And that it should move to a yearly event, with ongoing recognition in-between from the Government.

“I can see both sides, and after tonight I think it is up to individual households to decide if they carry on - it’s always been a free choice to take part. For me, it has always been about supporting the people risking their lives for us, not about politics.

“It’s been my individual Clap for them, nothing to do with any politicians or celebrities.

“But I really want the NHS and keyworkers to know that we are still behind them, as we always have been and always will be.”