A florist has delivered 1,200 bouquets of flowers as a thank you to hospital staff on the frontline in the fight against the coronavirus.
Nine van loads of blooms were unloaded at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to help “put a smile on the faces” of NHS staff.
Emma Storey, 41, who owns florists Emms Stems at Southrepps, and her husband Neil, who runs a plant hire firm, wanted to do something to honour health workers.
She said: “My husband does construction work at the hospital and because I have a flower shop we said we would like to do something together.
“I had 15,000 stems delivered last Friday and we got on with it. I initially wanted to do 1,000 bouquets but it was 1,200 in all.”
MORE: East Coast College lecturer getting up at 4am to bake cakes for keyworkersPreparing the bouquets took three days and was a family affair with help from daughter Danielle, 21, and son Luke, 16, as well as Emma’s sister Amanda.
“It is such a horrendous time for all the hospital staff,” said Emma. “It is not just the doctors and nurses, but also the ambulance drivers, the cleaners, the caterers, all of them.
“We cannot do anything to help them as they try to care for people, but I thought that if we can at least help put a smile on their faces when they leave work today by giving them a bouquet that is what we would try to do.
“It lets them know that we are all thinking about them and wishing them all the best. We appreciate everything they are doing.”
The idea was partly inspired by seeing how important sending flowers was proving to people separated from loved ones during the lockdown.
“The shop is at home and because it is just me I have been able to work on my own and have been delivering to people,” she said.
“It is probably taking half an hour to take every phone order at the moment because everyone wants to talk about what their circumstances are and what the bouquet means. Then the next day I have the person who I have given that bouquet phone to thank me.
MORE: Holkham estate’s 2000 meals to NHS heroes at Lynn hospital“That is what got me thinking about doing this for the hospital staff to show them just how much we appreciate them.”
A hospital spokeswoman said: “We really appreciate Emms Stems donating flowers to give away to our hardworking staff. It really does make a difference so thank you so much.”
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