Skyline to become a beacon of blue for #NHSBirthday
The historic city walls of York, Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Wakefield Town Hall clock tower, Durham County Hall and Harrogate’s Nightingale Hospital are just a few of the landmarks across the North East and Yorkshire which will #LightItBlue on the evening of Saturday 4 July – the eve of the 72nd Birthday of the NHS.
Across England, iconic landmarks which will #LightItBlue on Saturday evening for the NHS Birthday will include Blackpool Tower, the Royal Albert Hall, The Shard and Wembley Arch.
Richard Barker, Regional Director for North East and Yorkshire, said the 72nd anniversary of the creation of the NHS was an opportunity to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who had helped respond to the coronavirus pandemic and remember those who had lost their lives.
“2020 has perhaps been the most challenging year in the history of the NHS,” he said. “To respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHS has stepped up to redesign services, recruit thousands more staff and volunteers and even build hospitals – including NHS Nightingale Yorkshire and Humber.
“We are grateful to everyone involved – frontline workers, thousands of colleagues who returned to the NHS and staff in the health and social care sectors. We also want to say thank you to the countless individuals and organisations in this region for the way they responded to the pandemic.
“Key workers such as bus drivers, refuse collectors, shopworkers and carers have all played a vital role. The public embraced lockdown measures to help protect the NHS, helped neighbours with shopping and observed social distancing measures. The NHS is grateful to the whole nation for its efforts – great and small.”
Alongside Light It Blue on Saturday evening, NHS leaders are asking everyone to put a light in their windows in remembrance of people who, sadly, lost their lives during the pandemic. Richard added: “As well as gratitude to the nation for its response, the NHS Birthday is a moment for us all to remember those who have lost their lives during the pandemic.”
Among the buildings, landmarks and monuments in the North East and Yorkshire confirmed to take part in #LightItBlue on Saturday evening are
- Bradford, Forster Square,
- Bradford Teaching Hospitals buildings
- Bradford, Margaret McMillan Tower
- Bradford City Hall
- Durham County Hall
- Durham: Raby Castle
- Gateshead Millennium Bridge
- Harrogate Convention Centre
- Huddersfield, Castle Hill Tower
- Hull Inspire CAMHS Unit
- Keighley, Airedale General Hospital
- Leeds Merrion Centre CitiPark car park
- Knaresborough Castle
- Newcastle Civic Centre
- Redcar Civic Building
- Saltburn Pier
- Scarborough Castle
- Sheffield Children’s Hospital
- Sunderland: Penshaw Monument; Fulwell Mill; Northern Spire Bridge; Keel Square; High Street West; Lighthouse (Cliffe Park); Beacon of Light
- Wakefield Town Hall clock tower
- Whitley Bay: St Mary’s Lighthouse
- York: Clifford’s Tower; historic city walls
- York Hospital