Meet the Hartlepool schoolboy raising thousands clapping for carers for 12 hours after appearance on BBC's Zoe Ball breakfast show

Every Thursday the nation comes together in Clap for Carers at 8pm to show our appreciation of NHS staff and other key workers on the front line of the coronavirus battle.

But Theo decided to go one better by applauding for 12 hours straight outside the family home in Wooler Road from 8am to 8pm on Thursday, April 23.

Up to now he has raised almost £4,000 – ten times his original target.

His appeal at GoFundMe got a boost after he was featured on the Zoe Ball Breakfast Show on Radio 2.

Zoe described him as a ‘little legend’ and shared his fundraising page from her social media.

Theo, 13, who attends English Martyrs School, told the Mail: “I really enjoy clapping every Thursday at 8pm and all these nurses are putting in 12 hour shifts every single day.

“So I thought I would do my own 12 hour shift and clap for 12 hours to raise money for the NHS.”

He barely stopped apart from the odd bathroom break and mum Christine Swift even fed him food and sweets so he could carry on clapping.

Christine, 48, said: “I think it’s amazing. I’m ever so proud of what a caring kid he is.

“We’re in lockdown and he could have stayed on his PlayStation but he came up with this which is fabulous.

“One of our friends is a paramedic and a lot of our friends have family members working on Covid wards.”

Theo, whose dad Simon Woods is currently in Saudi Arabia, was also joined by his little sister Nancy, seven.

His headteacher Stephen Hammond said: “Theo is an absolute credit to English Martyrs.

“I always say that we want our students to be agents for good and agents of change in the world.

“Theo is expressing his, and indeed our, gratitude to our health and care workers alongside raising a fantastic amount of money to support their work.

“It is a phenomenal effort!”

To add to Theo’s total, go to Theo’s 12 hour Clap for our Heroes at gofundme.com

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you