Salisbury Cathedral hosting special NHS 75th anniversary service
The event will include choir music, readings and poetry
Last updated 19th Jun 2023
A service is being held by Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury Cathedral to mark the 75th anniversary of the NHS.
It will also celebrate 80 years since the US Army opened a hospital in Odstock.
It is happening on Monday 26th June, and organisers say the event will include choir music, readings and poetry.
There will even be a reading of a commissioned work by playwright Paula B Stanic. Paula’s work was featured at the ‘We Reflect’ service held at the Cathedral in March 2022.
In creating this piece, Paula says she was particularly interested in the volunteers who work in different roles around the hospital.
She said, “After some lively talks with staff and helpers at Radio Odstock, I was inspired to write a piece mixing created text and verbatim - with the volunteers at its heart.
"In the piece, three characters, Eli, a hospital archivist, Alex, a hospital radio presenter, and Jesse, a volunteer ward support volunteer/Ward Buddy, discuss their experiences and stories of other volunteers they knew."
The service will begin at 5:30pm on Monday 26th June.
Organisers want it to be an opportunity for the community to come together and join health and social care staff and volunteers to celebrate the milestone of our National Health Service, which was founded on 5th July in 1948.
The idea is for it to be open to all communities in South Wiltshire, North and East Dorset and South West Hampshire.
The event planners say there will be a warm welcome to all faiths, as well as those with none.
It will also celebrate the closing of the city centre Infirmary and opening of Salisbury District Hospital 30 years ago, and the 70th anniversary of Radio Odstock, the hospital’s radio station, which is run by volunteers.
The service will be led by the Dean and Cathedral clergy, with members of the Trust’s Chaplaincy.
Paula’s prose and specially commissioned poetry by the Trust’s Poet in Residence, Martin Figura, speaks of the history of the NHS in the community, and the experiences of patients over the years.