A paramedic from Egerton has masterminded a viral video featuring North West Ambulance Service staff performing a cover of the Foo Fighters song Times Like These.

Andy Wood, who sings in the video himself, isn’t new to fundraising opportunities, having previously organised charity football matches with NWAS.

After sharing his idea in a staff Facebook group he received a huge response and people from across the North West sent him videos of them performing the song.

Although free to watch, the video does have a donation link for the NWAS NHS Trust charity.

Andy said: “It’s been tough these past few months for the NHS, I had planned to organise another charity football match but obviously we couldn’t do that anymore.

“When I heard the Times Like These song I thought that it would be brilliant if we could get everyone to sing that.

“It wasn’t about how good everyone was or whether people were tone deaf, it was about people taking part. Some people were unsure about sending stuff in but once they saw the finished video they were glad they did.

“Everyone in it works for the NWAS, some of them have never sung before whereas others perform in bands in their spare time. The idea behind it was just to have a bit of fun, I didn’t expect it to blow up this much.

“Thousands of people have viewed it. I think we’re all so surprised that it’s taken off like it has.”

Andy, 42, suffered from coronavirus symptoms in April and has experienced first hand what the virus can do.

He said: “I was off for a couple of weeks around Easter with coronavirus symptoms, it was before testing was available so I can’t be sure. It felt like I had been hit by a bus, I was really quite poorly.”

A spokeswoman for the NWAS said: “It’s great to see our very talented staff using their down time to produce such an uplifting and heart-warming video.

“The support from the public has been phenomenal, a real morale boost for our staff who continue to work extremely hard.

“Money raised for the North West Ambulance Charity is used to make a real difference to people’s lives by funding lifesaving equipment, eduction programmes and other projects to benefit the health, wellbeing and safety of patients, staff and our communities.”

To donate click here.