A SWINDON man's special tribute to key workers earned him a spot on national TV.
During the first lockdown, 29-year-old Sam Pierce showed his support by dressing up as his Covid heroes.

Sam, who has Down’s syndrome, donned many outfits – from medics to posties – and followed it up more recently by appearing as a food delivery driver, a lifeboat crew member and even an Asda shop worker during the Clap for Heroes campaign that started during the third national lockdown in January.

Mum Leslye Russell-Pierce, 58, explained Sam is always keen to show his support during the pandemic and was supplied with an Asda uniform by staff at the Orbital store.

And thanks to some family connections, he was thrust into the spotlight during the Good News segment of ITV’s Loose Women. 

During the show, co-host Stacey Solomon spoke about how impressed she was. 
She said: “Thanks to Sam for keeping us all going and thanks to Asda for giving him a uniform and a badge. 

“How sweet, we love you Sam.”

Leslye explained: “Sam’s sister-in-law Laura phoned to ask if Loose Women could do a piece on Sam as she works with them and Stacey thought Sam was fantastic. 

“On the day it was shown Sam was so excited and when his story came on he just kept saying 'it’s me, it’s me'. 

“Then when Stacey said she loved him he just beamed. That clip has been watched many times on Sam’s iPad.”

The coverage has prompted plenty of plaudits from far and wide. 

Leslye added: “We have had such a positive response from all over the world, messages from American, Sweden, Japan, Brazil and many more countries.

“We originally set out to say thank you to so many keeping us going through this tough time but we are so happy that we are making people smile.”

She said: “When the Clap for Heroes returned this year, I asked Sam if he would like to join in like last year. 

“He was so pleased so again we started chatting about which essential worker heroes he would like to be. 

“In the last few weeks Sam has been a cycle delivery person, a refuse collector, soldier, lab technician and a lifeboat crew member. 

“Some of these are personal thanks as one of his uncles works for a pharmaceutical company and another is a lifeboats crew mechanic. 

“Every Thursday now, straight as dinner is over Sam wants to get changed and I have to explain it’s far to early.”