If there's one thing we can all agree on at the moment, it's that we owe a massive debt of gratitude to our NHS workers. Their courage and dedication during the Coronavirus crisis was summed up perfectly in an important message that went viral earlier this week: "We stay here for you. Please stay home for us."
With this in mind, it's heartwarming to hear that two of the UK's leading supermarket chains, Lidl and Tesco, are giving surplus Mother's Day flowers to NHS workers as a token of appreciation.
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Lidl has said it will be distributing some of these flowers through the Neighbourly app. In addition, NHS staff at Northampton General Hospital and Kettering General Hospital will be greeted with flowers as they head home after their shifts.
Ryan McDonnell, Chief Commercial Director at Lidl GB, said: "This Mother’s Day, we wanted to redistribute this surplus supply and show our thanks and appreciation to those working tirelessly through these extraordinary times.
"We hope that our beautiful bunches will help raise the spirits of those who receive them."
Meanwhile, NHS workers who took advantage of Tesco's dedicated shopping hour this morning shared photos of the free flowers they were given as a show of appreciation.
One praised her local store for its "well organised queuing system", commitment to "checking NHS ID" and "beautiful bouquet of flowers for me for working for our NHS".
Got all I needed today thanks to @Tesco opening their doors to nhs staff an hour early. Also each one of us handed a beautiful bunch of flowers to say thank you for our hard work. Lots of teary faces but also lots of smiles xxx pic.twitter.com/f552nNRDsL
— Tracey #footballmum (@trpritchards) March 22, 2020
This morning @Tesco doors opened early for @NHSuk colleagues so we surprised them all with a bunch of flowers 💐to say Thank You #TogetherWeCanDoThis pic.twitter.com/sE1ANJ3Da9
— Steve Winfield (@Wini10) March 22, 2020
Tesco gave me flowers thanking me for my NHS work.❤️ pic.twitter.com/RvLihkja5r
— Anika Francisca (@AnikaFrancisca) March 22, 2020
Well done @Tesco Stourbridge branch. Well organised queuing system, checking nhs ID, fairly well stocked of the essentials and a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me for working for our NHS. Thank you pic.twitter.com/3tQuYkNUf4
— Nicola Faithfull (@FaithfullNicola) March 22, 2020
Mother's Day has been very different for many of us this year as we celebrate our mums, grandmothers and mother figures virtually instead of in person.
Victoria Beckham shared a sweet message to everyone celebrating virtually today, writing on Instagram: "So many of us won’t be able to see our mums today. Most of us will be sending them virtual love and gratitude, while thinking especially of the families with those on the frontlines taking care of others."We will all continue to be kind and resilient."