Published: 19:44, 28 May 2020 | Updated: 21:00, 28 May 2020
Members of the public and health workers were out in force on Thursday evening for the Clap for Carers, now in its 10th week.
But this week’s event may be the last, after the woman behind the idea said she will no longer take part.
Millions of people across the UK have lined their thresholds, gathered on pavements, and stood in their gardens at 8pm every Thursday to demonstrate their support for care staff and frontline workers.
But the ritual has been criticised by some for becoming “politicised”.
Annemarie Plas, 36, last week told the PA news agency she has no problem with people continuing to gather at 8pm each week to clap, but said she will not be among those taking part in future.
She said: “To have the most impact I think it is good to stop it at its peak.”
If this week marks the end of Clap for Carers, it was a fitting finale.
Annemarie Plas, a Dutch national living in south London who created the weekly 8pm Clap for Carers, applauds alongside her neighbours – but she said it would be her final time (Aaron Chown/PA)Neighbours of Annemarie Plas join in with the round of applause (Aaron Chown/PA)Prime Minister Boris Johnson applauds at 10 Downing Street (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)Children hold a banner outside Aintree University Hospital in Liverpool (Peter Byrne/PA)Staff cheer at Aintree University Hospital (Peter Byrne/PA)Joshua Morton outside his home in the St George area of Bristol. Josh, 15, sets up a stage in the front garden of his home and performs for his neighbours before and after the weekly Clap for Carers, raising money for the Grand Appeal to support Bristol Children’s Hospital (Ben Birchall/PA)The event creates a party atmosphere in the Bristol street (Ben Birchall/PA)Staff gather at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)Residents of Diglis Basin in Worcester come out from their boats to join in the weekly Clap for Carers (David Davies/PA)Applause at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham (Jacob King/PA)Staff gathered at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)Applause at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital in Glasgow (Andrew Milligan/PA)Residents clap in the north London street where Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s top aide Dominic Cummings lives (Yui Mok/PA)
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