Uplifting news: Generous traffic wardens and Shakespeare on the street

Traffic wardens delivered food boxes and residents performed Shakespeare for their neighbours, in Thursday’s uplifting news.

Here is a look at some of the feel-good stories of the day.

– Traffic wardens deliver food boxes instead of parking fines

Traffic wardens in one part of Kent have stopped issuing parking tickets and are instead helping people during the coronavirus crisis.

Panic-buying and the lockdown has made it hard for some vulnerable people to get the supplies they need, particularly those who have been told to self-isolate at home and are reliant on others to ensure they have enough food.

So traffic wardens with Sevenoaks District Council have started delivering essential food boxes to residents who need them.

Councillor Lesley Dyball said: “In these uncertain times we are taking on new roles to support older and vulnerable residents who cannot leave the house during the coronavirus outbreak.

“I am really proud that our traffic wardens have stepped up to provide a lifeline to those in greatest need.”

– Applause for Uber driver as he walks out of hospital

The first Covid-19 patient at a Kent hospital was treated to a huge round of applause from staff as he walked out on Thursday.

Uber driver Biniam Kidane waved and gave the thumbs up to the smiling NHS workers who lined the corridors.

The team at Darent Valley Hospital are wishing the 43-year-old father a speedy continued recovery.

Mr Kidane had been on a romantic trip to Venice with his wife to celebrate Valentine’s Day in February.

But after he returned home he became unwell and was admitted to hospital in Dartford, Kent on March 22.

His wife was so thrilled he was able to leave intensive care on Tuesday that she bought pizza for everyone in the ITU.

– Manchester pays tribute to NHS staff with Nightingale Hospital road markings

NHS staff at the Nightingale Hospital North West in Manchester will see road markings appreciating their efforts as they go to and from the facility.

Messages such as “THANK YOU NHS” have been painted on to roads nearby to show support for hospital staff.

“I just felt that we had to do something,” Gemma Mcilwaine, business team lead for Manchester’s highway maintenance service, told the PA news agency.

Northern Marking supplied a team free of charge to mark the lines near the Nightingale Hospital, which health bosses have said would be equipped and staffed to receive up to 750 coronavirus patients from across the region in the coming days.

– Neighbours perform Shakespeare from their windows to cheer up isolated residents

Quarantined actors performed Romeo and Juliet from their windows to cheer up their neighbours during lockdown.

Actors Che Walker and Ruth Gibson played the star-crossed lovers in the balcony scene to socially-distanced neighbours, including frontline workers, on their north London street.

Resident and NHS doctor Adolpho Bronstein even played an instrumental on his flute from a window opposite.

After spending a couple of weeks in quarantine, they had a few rehearsals online before letting their neighbours know they were staging a performance on a sunny Saturday afternoon, via their WhatsApp group.