The hills were alive with the sound of NHS support

Scores of people stood at doors and windows of their homes applauding

The hills of Saddleworth were alive with the sound of clapping last night as villagers joined the nationwide 8pm call to support the NHS.

Scores of people stood at doors and windows of their homes applauding, with some cheering and setting off random fireworks.

Facebook site Dobcross News received scores of positive posts from folk who had taken part in the inspirational event.

One post read: ”I'm running on Delph New Road at 8pm (clapping as I went of course).

"Dobcross, I could hear you loud and clear! Actually made me cry.”

Others reported the applause echoing from tiny helmets to the larger villages, with some vowing to take part in the ritual at 8pm next Thursday.

Meantime, in Tenerife, the winter home of many Brits, people across the Canary Islands from Oldham joined the 7pm nightly rounds of applause echoing across empty squares and shops closed by the crisis.

“It’s very spooky,“ said Dennis Bradford, residing in Lis Gigantes, a village in the south west of Tenerife.

“But the fact we all turn out - standing well away from each other - shows solidarity with each other, our friends and families and the local population.

"It’s very moving.”

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