Uplifting news: Covid survivor meets grandson and Stephen Fry hosts virtual quiz

A coronavirus survivor met his grandson and Stephen Fry hosted a Virtual Pub Quiz, in Friday’s news.

These are some of the more uplifting stories you might have missed.

– Student nurse reimagines famous painting with pandemic twist

A first year student nurse is raising money for charity by reimagining some of the world’s most popular paintings with a Covid-19 twist.

Chloe Slevin spent more than five hours painting Girl With A Surgical Mask while self-isolating at her Dublin home.

The painting is a nod to Johannes Vermeer’s Girl With A Pearl Earring, believed to date from around 1665.

The UCD student is auctioning the painting and giving all the funds to the Feed the Heroes charity, a campaign that delivers food to hospital and emergency workers.

Chloe, a trainee children’s and general nurse, is currently working on a Covid-19 ward at St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin as a healthcare assistant.

“I made this when I was bored in quarantine, like I think a lot of people are, and I wanted to incorporate what is going on at the moment,” she said.

– Covid survivor meets grandson born as he battled virus

A coronavirus survivor has met his first grandson, born as he battled the virus.

Geoffrey McKillop, 56, was cheered as he left the Causeway Hospital in Coleraine, Co Londonderry, before receiving a hero’s welcome in his native Bushmills.

But the most poignant moment came as the businessman, who at one stage was given just hours to live, caught sight of his first grandson.

Alexander was born four weeks ago, while Mr McKillop was fighting for his life on a ventilator in intensive care. His family were told that he may have just hours to live.

But Mr McKillop was clapped by medics and his family as he left hospital on Friday.

– Renowned US restaurant adds mannequins to help with social distancing

A renowned American restaurant has installed a number of finely-dressed mannequins at its tables to help it deal with social distancing for its reopening later this month.

Mannequins dressed in 1940s-style dress were already theatrically staged on Thursday at The Inn at Little Washington, tucked in the foothills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, west of Washington, DC.

Not only will the dummies help keep patrons apart, they will also help make the restaurant appear more full, in a whimsical fashion.

Although business restrictions are to begin easing in some parts of Virginia on Friday, restaurants can only serve dine-in customers in an outdoor space.

The three-Michelin-star restaurant has opted to wait until May 29 to resume dining service indoors.

– Stephen Fry-hosted Virtual Pub Quiz raised £140,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK

A virtual pub quiz co-hosted by Stephen Fry has raised more than £140,000 for Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Jay Flynn’s lockdown phenomenon, which has brought together more than 180,000 keen quizzers each week, featured Fry on Thursday.

It now holds the Guinness World Record for most viewers of a quiz YouTube live stream.

This week it joined forces with Alzheimer’s Research UK and Fry to raise money for dementia research and promote awareness of the condition.

Quizzers were encouraged to give money to the charity, which has experienced a drop in donations of up to 45% as a result of the pandemic.