Inspirational Stories

92-year-old teaches piano from quarantine

According to the New York Times, a 92-year-old Holocaust survivor Dr Cornelia Vertenstein is continuing to teach piano to students from her home in Denver. The music teacher has been delivering the lessons via FaceTime from her iPad.

'It helped me know more about my students — what kind of life they have,' Vertenstein told the newspaper. 'It’s not much, just one room, but it is illuminating to me because I know where they come from. I know a little bit better who they are' (from ELLE.com).

Pubs donating perishables to the NHS

All pubs, restaurants, cinemas, gyms and more were ordered to close in the fight against the Coronavirus pandemic (eateries can still open to serve takeaway food).

With pubs given short notice to close and still in possession of lots of food that might perish, they took matters into their own hands. The Grove pub in Balham, south west London delivered their sandwiches and ice cream to London Ambulance service and NHS staff to keep morale high as they treat patients.

Similar initiatives from pubs took place in Norwich, South Shields and more.

Public Health England approves antibody test

On Thursday, 14th May, it was announced that Public Health England had approved its first antibodies test, which could detect if people had already had the Coronavirus and therefore could suggest if they are now immune to it.

According to the BBC, the test would first be given to health and social care workers.

Intensive Care Units enjoy the sunshine

The last weekend in April blessed many parts of the UK with gloriously sunny weather. In this picture, taken at Queen's hospital in Romford, two ITU nurses took a a Covid-19 patient outside to enjoy some of the warm weather and benefit from some Vitamin D.

Bride and Groom donate food to NHS

The Coronavirus social distancing measures have meant many planned weddings have now been postponed.

One couple from East Yorkshire, were scheduled to marry last weekend. When the reception was called off, they chose to divert all of their catering to more than 400 hospital workers in Hull instead, reports the Independent.

The couple also did marry, with two witnesses instead of their planned 120 guests.

Blue Post Boxes

A number of post boxes across the UK have been painted blue as a token of thanks to NHS staff battling the Coronavirus pandemic. As well as bearing the colours of the National Health Service, the post boxes also have 'Thank you NHS' emblazoned on the side in white paint.

There are currently five across the UK with one erected in Cardiff, Wales (pictured), another near St Thomas hospital in London, one in Manchester, Edinburgh and Belfast.

Colonel Tom Moore celebrates his birthday

Fundraiser and record-breaker Tom Moore turned 100 years on the 30th April, which was marked with an RAF fly-past near where he lives and an honorary promotion to a Colonel ranking (from a Captain) in the army.

The popular centenarian was inundated with birthday cards from across the country. Housed in a local school hall (pictured), it is estimated Colonel Moore received 140,000 birthday cards.

Captain now Colonel Tom walked his garden to raise £1,000.00 for the NHS Charities he was so successful that he missed his target and raised £32,796,480 and his song You’ll Never Walk with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir made number 1 in the pop charts.

Everyone can inspire others to help us through this crisis

Flamingos Flock to Lakes in India

With less humans out and about, animals have frequently been roaming unexpected places. In India, flamingos have flocked in their thousands to lakes like this one in Mumbai, lighting up the lake in a shade of pink.

According to The Hindustan Times, there are currently 25% more flamingos in the Mumbai area than usually at this time of year.

Swedish Princess Volunteers at Hospital

Princess Sofia of Sweden has swapped her tiara for scrubs by reducing her royal duties in order to volunteer as a medical assistant at a Stockholm hospital to support staff dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic.

According to People, the royal completed an intensive online training course and will assist with non-medical duties like shifts in the kitchen, cleaning and disinfecting.

Christ The Redeemer Lights Up

After illuminating in various flags to pay tribute to those countries affected by the Coronavirus pandemic in March, the iconic Rio de Janeiro statue was illuminated in a medical uniform over the weekend. As a tribute to medical workers, the statue also had 'thank you' inscribed at the bottom of the illumination.

Nessun Dorma...alla Corona - Daniel Emmet

#PortraitsforNHSHeroes

It's not just chefs and cooks who are using their skills to support the NHS (see below), other creatives are also burgeoning with ideas.

Earlier this month, artist Tom Croft launched #PortraitsforNHSHeroes to paint a free oil portrait of an NHS workers to the first who messaged him via Instagram. He has since enlisted 500 other artists for the initiative to pair them with a healthcare worker working on the frontline to paint or sketch for free. When the pandemic is over, he hopes to hold an exhibition of the powerful portraits (from ELLE.com).

Coronavirus: Captain Tom Moore gets Royal Mail birthday postmark

The 100-year-old war veteran who has raised nearly £33m for the NHS by walking laps of his garden has been honoured with a special postmark.

Royal Mail will stamp all letters with the message to celebrate Captain Tom Moore's 100th birthday on Thursday.

All stamped post up until Friday will be marked with: "Happy 100th Birthday Captain Thomas Moore NHS fundraising hero 30th April 2020."

Royal Mail said it was "honoured" to issue the postmark.

World War Two veteran Capt Tom, from Marston Moretaine in Bedfordshire, extended his challenge to 200 laps after he completed the first 100 laps 14 days ahead of schedule.

His initial £1,000 fundraising target was broken in about 24 hours, however he raised £32,796,012.

Capt Tom is now putting his feet up after raising an astonishing sum of money for NHS Charities Together. However, you can still help provide essential support for NHS staff and volunteers by making a donation to the charity. Visit www.nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/donate for more information.

London books 300 rooms for rough sleepers

While people are advised to stay in their homes as much as possible during the pandemic, this is not possible for people who are homeless forced to sleep on the streets.

To protect them from infection, the London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced over the weekend that the city had secured 300 rooms, for now, where people who are sleeping rough can stay. (from ELLE.com). 

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