A 'Captain Sir Tom Moore day': To empower older people

Captain Sir Tom Moore's daughter is hoping to start an annual fundraising event, in the style of Children In Need, to empower older people.

Hannah Ingram-Moore, 49, said that the first Captain Tom Day could be held in June, with talks about the detail ongoing with national charities.

Sir Tom raised £38.9 million for the NHS, including Gift Aid, by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday at the height of the first national Covid-19 lockdown in April last year.

It has also been revealed the memorial message that announced Sir Tom's death was the most retweeted and liked post on Twitter in the UK this year.

She said:

"We will encourage people all around the country to fundraise and get people involved in incredible things. We know we won't be able to change everything but we will be able to change just a little bit in his honour. We do not champion our older people and just imagine if this day got the same noise and the same voice as those other charities. Just imagine the impact we could have on these people that just feel utterly isolated.

"Imagine what life would have been like if he had been on his own; without the love of his life who was my mother who sadly died. How many other people are there out there that nobody even knows about because we don't shine that light there? Imagine if we shine that light and we change people's lives.

"He knew that he was able to connect people with his positivity so I think if he was sitting next to me right now that he'd be incredibly pleased that the legacy of hope that he's left the world is being turned in this direction; I think he'd be really happy."

'A hero for older people'

Ms Ingram-Moore said that her father, who died in February this year, had become a "hero for older people".

But she said he told her that he had felt "invisible" after the death of his wife, and before moving in with Ms Ingram-Moore, her husband Colin and their children in 2007.

"He tried to get a job at 86 and people laughed at him," Ms Ingram-Moore said, adding that her father found himself alone after the death of his wife in 2006 and he "wanted purpose".

She said he applied without success for jobs in shops, warehousing and deliveries.

Now, the Captain Tom Foundation is working alongside Dame Esther Rantzen on its latest venture - Captain Tom Day - to help make sure the older generation "feels seen, heard and, most importantly, valued by society".

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