Northampton General Hospital remembers the Armed Forces with Remembrance Street

Northampton General Hospital has rebranded its ‘Hospital Street’ corridor to ‘Remembrance Street’ for Remembrance Day.

As Covid-19 has put a restriction on NGH’s Armed Forces plans this year, veteran Angela Smart who is NGH’s clinical governance manager, had the idea of flooding the hospital with poppies by building a walk of remembrance throughout the site.

Angela said: “I served for 18 years in the Royal Air Force and Remembrance Day has always been incredibly important to me. During the peak of this pandemic I loved seeing rainbows everywhere and it gave me the idea for me and my son Henry to do some poppies for our window at home.

“We were sat together colouring poppies and Henry showed me his, which he had coloured in like a rainbow. I asked him why and he told me it was because we need to remember everyone this year, it’s really important.

“This got me thinking and I asked my governance colleagues if they would support me in decorating our corridor with lots of poppies. I then asked staff at NGH if anyone wanted to join in and the response was amazing.

“I am incredibly grateful to our hospital for being so supportive of all veterans.”

Working with Ruth Smith, transformation manager, they have received an overwhelming response from staff to colour in and knit poppies to create the installation. They have even received help from schools in the community.

But not only will the Armed Forces be remembered but also animals who served.

Ruth added: “NGH is a Veteran Aware Trust and part of the County Covenant – a responsibility we take huge pride in for our staff families and patients. Whilst Covid-19 means we cannot hold the remembrance services we would like to, our veterans remain deeply valued by us all.

“Team NGH have come together in the most incredible way from each and every area to create our Remembrance Street full of poppies from our staff and their families.”

The installation has also been supported by NGH’s Estates and Infection Prevention teams to ensure that it is safe and suitable in these challenging times.

Deborah Needham, hospital chief executive said: “I am incredibly proud of Angela and Ruth for coming up with this idea, arranging delivery and displaying the hundreds on poppies which our staff and local communities have coloured or knitted.

“It is important that we pay tribute to and thank the many veterans who work for us at NGH and in the wider NHS.”