Farming couple's impressive tribute to the NHS

The huge sacrifices made by NHS staff to steer the UK through the coronavirus pandemic have prompted emotional tributes across the country, and a farming couple on the Stratford to Bidford Road have created their own unmissable thank you sculpture.

Ann and John Bayliss decided to pull out all the stops to show their respect to the health service, creating a giant 12tf high sculpture of a medic, just in time for last Thursday’s ‘Clap for our Carers’.

Made from straw bales, fertiliser sacks, pipe lagging, bin lids, plant pots and other recycled items, the impressive figure, visible from the road, will remain up for the next few days.

Ann said: “I make props for our local am-dram group and I had a couple of days off so I decided to make this, hopefully it’ll bring a smile to a few people’s faces.

“We’ve made others like this before, including one of the Queen for her Diamond Jubilee, that one was 18 feet high and it took a lot of tying down with ropes to make it secure, my husband said that was going to be the last one, but he’s relented for this one.

“I think everyone has a story about the NHS, our son was born premature and without those medics we wouldn’t have our 12-year-old now, they saved his life. The health service is overworked and under-budgeted, but everyone working in it does a fantastic job, it’s nice that we’ve been able to pay tribute to them in this way.”