Artist Rosie Woods has created a mural for passers-by on the busy Burdett Road to say “thanks” to the NHS for everything they’ve done during the long pandemic crisis.

%image(14918245, type="article-full", alt="Rosie Woods busy with her triibute in Burdett Road... "I felt helpless, so this is my way of saying thank you to the NHS for all they've done through this pandemic." Picture source: Rosie Woods")

Rosie approached Poplar Harca housing association asking for a space where the tribute could go.

They suggested Argyll Point, a tower block in Bow Common on the corner of Burdett Road with and Thomas Road next to the Limehouse Cut as an ideal “canvass”. The families unanimously gave the green light.

Passers-by kept stopping to talk to her about the mural while she was trying to get it done. But she didn’t mind.

“I felt the enormous admiration for our NHS and key workers when we went into lockdown,” she recalls. “I felt helpless at the time — so this mural is my way of saying thank-you for all they’ve done through this pandemic.”

%image(14918245, type="article-full", alt="Rosie Woods busy with her triibute in Burdett Road... "I felt helpless, so this is my way of saying thank you to the NHS for all they've done through this pandemic." Picture source: Rosie Woods")

She hopes her mural in the colours of the NHS logo will be a “lasting artwork of gratitude” when the Covid-19 outbreak is finally under control.

Argyll Point tenant Louise Yousuf said: “Even my son loves the mural on our wall. He’s 11 and normally only interested in technology and phones!”

The artwork deserved a spot where as many people as possible could see it, the housing organisation felt. Burdett Road was “the perfect blank canvas” for Rosie to pay tribute to the NHS.