The Night Before NHS Christmas at Thackray Museum of Medicine

Thackray Museum of Medicine has put the experiences of NHS workers at the heart of an installation called ‘The Night Before NHS Christmas’.

Transcript

00:00I'm Edward Appleyard, I'm Chief Executive here at the Thackray Museum of Medicine.

00:03It is that festive time of year when we all come together and hopefully bring a

00:07little bit of joy to the world in a time when actually so much is going on.

00:10There's a big concern to us at the moment around the globe but here at the

00:15Thackray we really celebrate people at the heart of everything we do and what

00:18better time of year to do that than at Christmas. And this year we're

00:22celebrating really special people that work in the NHS over the holiday period

00:26looking after all of us when we're sick and we can't enjoy Christmas at home.

00:30This year we're presenting the night before NHS Christmas and we're really

00:34excited to have brought together so many stories from colleagues mostly at LGI

00:38and Jimmy's next door to us too which is where we are in Leeds here. Everything

00:43from maternity wards to cardiologists and things in between it's been such an

00:47interesting array of people to work with. I mean some of the wonderful stories

00:51that have come out for example Lucy who works in the maternity ward there's

00:54always a competition between Jimmy's and LGI every year around who's going to

00:58get that first baby on Christmas Day and what we've really brought together is

01:01this idea of a celebration across the Christmas period. Obviously it's

01:04difficult for staff in the NHS to work across that period but actually they

01:08really embrace the joy. They obviously really care because that's what they do

01:12every single day in their jobs and want to make that a very special time for

01:16people. Those stories have been brought to life by a wonderful artist called

01:19Andy Singleton. He's based in Wakefield and he works primarily with paper but

01:23he's an illustrator too. The artworks that you see are based on that ultimate

01:27festive story of the night before Christmas. So in the night before NHS

01:31Christmas we've adapted that with wonderful poetry by our very own

01:33Jessica Smith and he's brought to life in an illustrative paper way in the

01:39form of six wonderful books which are intricate, beautiful, they are so well

01:44designed and thought out. We're also working with a company called Rensemble

01:47who are bringing the Thackray to life in a totally different way. Every weekend

01:51between now and the 23rd of December you are bound to feel joy, feel engaged,

01:56feel happy. It's a wonderful experience.