IT has been a very British triumph: a team of nurses, volunteers and medics based in a damp tent in a York car park who, through long weeks and all weathers, have helped turn the tables on coronavirus.

Thousands of people have had their Covid jabs at the vaccination centre at Askham Bar. Many will never forget the experience.

Now, the centre and the people who work there have been immortalised in a new painting by York artist Sue Clayton entitled 'Tent of Hope'. Unveiled on Tuesday afternoon - fortunately, just before a torrential downpour hit the city - it is intended as a celebration of the spirit of the volunteers and health workers who have done so much to protect the people of York against disease.

Sue, who took her mum to the centre to be vaccinated, and also visited with her camera to chat to medics, volunteers and patients, wanted the painting to be as realistic as possible.

So she has included a cross section of the people she met in her painting - all socially distanced, of course - as well as the black and white cat who became a regular visitor and the tea trolley, which brought warmth and comfort to vaccinators during the cold, wet weather.

She remembers speaking to one of the volunteers. "To her, that little rumble of the tea trolley coming around was so important!" Sue said.

The painting will ultimately hang in the Clifton Moor HQ of Nimbuscare, which has overseen the York vaccination programme.Print copies will go to selected vaccinators - and postcard versions of the painting may also be available eventually, with proceeds going to charity.