Page 31 - QARANC Vol 14 No 7 2013

THE GAZETTE QARANC 29
Service to Commemorate the Life of
Florence Nightingale
Westminster Abbey on Wednesday 8 May 2013
The Florence Nightingale Ceremony is held annually at Westminster Abbey to commemorate the life of Florence Nightingale, a woman who started the change in nursing for it to evolve into the role it is today. She improved the care and health of many soldiers injured on the front line during the Crimean War and campaigned tirelessly for the improvement of hygiene and care in hospitals. She also set up a school of nursing, changing the reputation of nursing from being a job carried out by drunken women of ill repute into an acceptable job for young women from good families.
The service takes place at Westminster Abbey and involves a procession of a lamp up the aisle, escorted by nursing students from around the country. Students escort the lamp to personify Nightingale’s creation of one of the first schools of nursing at St. Thomas’. As well as the procession of the lamp there is the procession of the Nurses Roll of Honour. The Roll of Honour was compiled by the British Commonwealth Nurses’ War Memorial Fund and is taken up the aisle by a member of the Armed Forces and escorted by the Matrons in Chief of all three services. It is due to the military background in the foundations of nursing, that each year a large group of military nurses attend the service. It is a reminder of where we came from, the origin of nursing in conflict and a celebration of a job that can be heart-breaking as well as elating. It is an easy thing to forget when working on a busy NHS ward, that we work in a privileged position and our role as military nurses was born in a hospital in Scutari, nursing those injured in the Crimean War. Whilst the job has evolved, we still go to foreign lands and nurse those fighting, and like Florence, we implement change to improve the lives and care of our patients.
The group of fifteen tri-Service personnel was headed up by SSgt Vassallo, who had attended the ceremony in previous years and was able to utilise her experience gained to have this year’s attendance run smoothly. We were driven to the heart of London where, in true military style, we found an accommodating pub in which we were able to use their facilities to get into our service dress. Dressed in our best uniform we made our way to Westminster Abbey stopping for a few touristy group photographs along the way! We entered the Abbey with enough time to be able to take in the magnificent surroundings of the historic building.
The service started with members of the Chelsea Pensioners marching up the aisle in memory and gratitude for the service given to soldiers by Nightingale and her nurses in the Crimea. Bidding prayers were said and hymns were sung prior to
the processions of the Roll of Honour and the lamp. This year the Roll was carried up the aisle by Petty Officer Naval Nurse Bernadette Quinn from the Queen Alexandra’s Royal Naval Nursing Service. As it made it’s way to the alter, the following words were read out:
“Let us remember those nurses and midwives who answered God’s call and gave their lives in the Second World War while caring for the sick and wounded whose names are recorded in the Roll of Honour and those who have given their lives in subsequent conflicts”
The lamp procession followed after another hymn and was carried to the altar by a Florence Nightingale scholar. When it reached the altar it was passed on to another nurse, this represents the transference of knowledge between one nurse to another. The students escorting the lamp this year were from De Monteford University.
The ceremony is a service of thanksgiving; thanks for Nightingale’s radical and bold beliefs and actions, thanks for the nurses we have today, for the knowledge we gain and the care that nurses all over the world deliver.
The Armed Forces were specifically remembered during prayers:
“For those who promote healthcare within the Armed Forces, remembering especially those currently serving in theatres of conflict...for those who are serving in places of great human tragedy.”
Once the prayers had been offered, the service ended with the lamp processing back down the aisle with the student nurse escort and the bells of Westminster were rung. The venue is an iconic landmark that we may only ever get to see on the television, its location in London is near to the Cenotaph and Big Ben and the gardens of the Abbey become the Field of Remembrance in November.
The day was a success because of the work put in by those organising the trip within the unit. The instructions compiled by SSgt Vassallo were thorough and given in plenty of time to have our uniforms readied. There was more to the day than just a church service, it was a day that promoted communication and bonding between members of the unit. It also gave us the perfect opportunity for valuable promotion of the Armed Forces in the public light. To class the event as a working day seemed a little greedy as we all enjoyed being given the privilege to attend. The day was an example of superb planning and execution. It was a great chance to see how others view our profession as nurses with a difference!
LNN Eleanor Walls QARNNS and
Cpl Jan Sheldon QARANC