A GOOD Samaritan has been bringing joy to hospital staff by clapping for them every morning - and he vows to carry on until the pandemic is over.

Colin Wilkinson helped put up a rainbow banner outside Basildon Hospital, supporting the NHS.

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Spreading love - Colin Wilkinson has brightened many nurses' days 

Mr Wilkinson, a 65-year-old born-again Christian, went up to the banner on the roundabout on Saturday to pray, but then began clapping for every car that arrived.

Since then he has been out there every morning clapping for all staff arriving and leaving the hospital.

He has received a huge amount of support from hospital staff and other residents, with his efforts being shared by thousands on social media.

Mr Wilkinson, who lives in Lee Chapel South, said: “It was about 5am on Saturday and I woke up and couldn’t get back to sleep, so I thought I need to go out for a walk, and thought I’d walk up to the hospital banner.

“Initially my intention was to pray at the banner for the people working right now, but then the first car came around the corner and I automatically started clapping, and then I didn’t stop clapping.

“I was there at the time when one shift was finishing and the other was arriving, it got to about 7am and people were honking their horns. I thought they might wake the people in the hospice up.

“The feedback I have been getting is so encouraging, to put a smile on people’s faces when they are going to do the work they do, makes it all worthwhile.”

Mr Wilkinson is a member of The Well Church in Islington, and shared his idea of a banner outside the hospital.

Pastor Clive Sharpe works at Alltype Fencing Specialist Ltd, based in High Road, Basildon, and arranged for the banner to be made and installed with the hospital’s permission.

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The banner put up on the roundabout

Now Mr Wilkinson, a father of two and a resilience coach at Woodlands School in Basildon, says he will carry on clapping until the coronavirus pandemic is over.

He said: “I’ve had nurses coming out to give me breakfast and talk to me. There was another lady who came out and had just lost her nan, and was in bits, and we both had a good cry.

“It’s been such a blessing.

“Without the banner, and the help to get it there, this would not have happened.

“God initially told me to do it for seven days. But now, I will do it for as long as it takes to get through this. These workers need to know they are being thought of.”

Nurse Toma Gen, who works at the hospital, said: “We are so grateful for what he does and what a difference he makes to us all at these worrying and hard times.”

Fellow worker Kirsty Scully said: “He honestly made my day. I wasn’t feeling great about coming into work that day.

“I drove by and he clapped us as we come on shift he nearly made me cry, such a thoughtful man.”