Chesterfield family finds unique way to clap for the NHS

The Watson family, of Hollingwood, have been making garden ornaments in the shape of hands and selling them to raise cash for doctors and nurses amid the pandemic.

It was an idea dreamt up by 10-year-old Phoebe Watson, who goes to Hollingwood Primary School, and has already raised £520 after ‘taking off’ in the village.

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Phoebe’s mum Kimberly said: “We decided to make concrete garden ornaments and sell them for £5 each, we thought if we could raise £50 we would be so happy,

“But the idea took off once I set a little group up on Facebook for my local village and we sold the 33 hands that we had already made in two hours.

“We had messages from lots of people asking if we could make more so we ended up making another 67.”

Kimberly says some of the hands were personalised, including one lady who asked if the family could do a hand for her newborn baby as a keepsake of the lockdown and another who requested a pair of hands for a funeral.“We absolutely loved making them, but thought 100 hands would be a nice amount to stop at,” Kimberly said.

“We had the hands drying in the kitchen, garden and summer house and were running out of places to put them, but it was all for a good cause.”