Singing Burnley grandmother who led the weekly Clap for the NHS still belting out tunes 14 months after start of pandemic

Residents in Sycamore Avenue looked forward to Jennifer Holland s singing when they came out of their homes every Thursday evening for the NHS tribute.

Complete with music and a microphone Jennifer, who lives with her husband Ken, blasted out a couple of tunes to cheers and rounds of applause from friends and neigbours who even called for an encore.

For Jennifer, who celebrated her 70th birthday in October, it was a labour of love and her own way of thanking the NHS staff at Burnley General Hospital,who saved her life twice, when she overcame cancer and heart failure.

And it wasn't just Jennifer's neighbours who appreciated her music, the many friends she has around the world including Australia, New Zealand and America, would also tune in on social media to listen to the songstress.

The positive and overwhelming response she received inspired Jennifer to continue singing daily, devoting her songs on facebook to family and friends for birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions.

Or simply to cheer someone up

"I didn't know whether or not to continue singing after the pubs and hospitality was allowed to re-open but the response from people was so overwhelming with many askng me to continue singing so I decided to carry on," said Jennifer. "I hope it has helped to lift people's spirits because it has certainly kept me going and has been motivation for me to get dressed up and do something I love."

In 12 months Jennifer sang a different song every day and only had to step back in October when she caught Covid-19 and was laid low for three weeks. So while the music went silent she took to writing poetry.

"I was quite poorly with covid it and it was a scary time," said Jennifer.

Retired for six years Jennifer worked in the design department at Nelson's Mackintosh Ltd for many years.

She has a daughter, Jacqueline and stepdaughter, Tracy. Her grandsons are Joseph (18) and 21-year-old Connah who is following in his grandmother's footsteps as a music student at Manchester University.

And he got his inspiration from his gran as he bought his first guitar with money he won on a scratchcard that she bought for him.