Spare epaulettes from Northampton mural used to honour Captain Tom Moore

A Northampton artist who recently created a huge mural out of donated protective service epaulettes has used spare ones to honour Captain Tom Moore.

Sam Bailey, the artist responsible for the original mural to commemorate PC Andrew Harper, wanted to celebrate Tom Moore’s achievements during the coronavirus pandemic.

The former British Army officer from Bedfordshire has raised more than £26 million, and counting, for the NHS by completing 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday at the end of the month.Now Sam has designed and created a new nine foot high and six foot wide mural for the ‘national hero’.

The Caroline Chisholm School art teacher said: “I knew I wanted to do something for the key workers or the NHS, we still had loads of epaulettes left and luckily I’d brought some home from school with me, but I didn’t have enough colour to do a scene.

“When I saw Tom he was the catalyst. He symbolises everything that is great about Britain - the grit and the fact that he is a veteran.

“He is a champion and our national hero and the NHS is behind him. He symbolises what this is all about - people working together and coming together.

“As he came across the finish line and you could see his cheeky little glint and that lovely little smile and he had his thumb up, I just thought that is the pose I want, so I sketched it."

The mural contains 600 epaulettes donated from protective service workers such as the RAF, London Ambulance Service and other services from around the world, as well as a painted rainbow, which Sam says has become ‘the symbol of Covid’.

Sam spent two days in her home creating the mural that originally started on her washing line and is now in her lounge.

She added: “I photographed the mural when it was finished and made the picture into a giant card, which I have sent to Tom.

“Being a military man he will understand the relevance and the history of more than 600 people’s lives within the mural.

“Those 600 people will be really proud to be a part of his mural.”

When the lockdown is over, the mural will be donated to the National Emergency Services Museum in Sheffield, which will also be the permanent home for the mural honouring PC Andrew Harper.

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