CHILDREN at a Redditch first school have been doing their bit to praise hardworking staff at the Alexandra Hospital.
Youngsters at The Vaynor First School have created nearly 300 bunting flags which now festoon the approaches to the hospital as a tribute to the long shifts and perils staff are facing there on a daily basis.
The PTA-driven project was backed by the school and the bunting was hung up by Wirehill resident and PTA member Nikki Wnuk.
“They have done them out in beautiful bright colours and the hope is they’ll cheer up the NHS workers as they go to and from work,” said Nikki.
“Everyone wants to do something to let the staff know we are behind them, even though we cannot physically support them, and this is a way of showing our appreciation.”
The bunting was all created in a 48-hour deadline and within the confines of physical distancing too, with the children downloading a PDF of the flags to work off.
“We set up bunting collection points and we wanted to do it as quickly as we could because the hospital staff are doing the long shifts and pulling out all the stops and we felt we should too,” said Nikki.
Once collected the flags were laminated for weatherproofing before being hung outside the hospital.
“We might have something else in the pipeline too, but we’re keeping that under wraps for now,” added Nikki.
And while the PTA and children have been busy the staff have too, asking children to keep a ‘lockdown diary’ and sending a special video out to all the pupils.
One mum, Rachel Hooper said: “The way the whole staff team have responded during this time from the management of the initial closure to the support for keyworkers and their children, to sending great work home and keeping in touch with the kids, has been exceptional,” she said.
“Now this. They really need celebrating for bringing joy and positivity to our kids at this time.”
To watch the video visit tinyurl.com/yaq4jz79.
