Residents in Seaton turned out to show their support to the NHS by marking its 72nd birthday.

The parish council decorated the village and encouraged people to gather in a socially-distant way by the shops to clap for all health workers.

Ken Slone, a parish councillor who helped organise the tribute, said: “I was very proud of all the mums and dads who came up, I’m really happy with the amount of children that were there.

“It was nice to see so many young people, it was more of a family affair with everybody that came up.”

Villagers stood in the rain for around 15 minutes for the tribute, which happened at the same time as a national clap for the NHS.

Attending were also the parish council chairman Danny Horsley, local nurse Sandra Benson and workers from the village’s pharmacy – Pat Moore, Michelle Williams and Karen Price.

Coun Slone said: “It was quite good despite it being really bad weather, but everybody seemed really appreciative of what people have done for the NHS.

“Even the cars passing by were peeping their horns.”

The idea of a state-run health service was mooted at the Labour Party Conference in 1934 by the then president of the Socialist Medical Association, Dr Somerville Hastings.

It was MP Aneurin Bevan who delivered the project after he became health minister in 1945.