Hundreds of people ran, jogged, and walked, as the NHS in Lincolnshire teamed up with local parkruns to ‘parkrun for the NHS’ on its 75th anniversary.
Everyone was encouraged to wear blue to celebrate this major milestone in the NHS’s history and acknowledge all of the staff and volunteers, past and present, who have made the NHS what it is today.
Angela Shimada, Deputy Director of AHPs and Clinical Transformation, Lincolnshire Community Health Services NHS Trust, took part in one of the events on Saturday 8th July.
She said: “It was incredible to see so many people on Saturday morning. The atmosphere was just fantastic and knowing it was to help celebrate such a remarkable achievement made it even more fulfilling.
“I would like to thank the Yarborough parkrun team for having us and all those who came along especially to join in the NHS75 celebrations.”
Attendees also visited stalls from a range of NHS organisations, with information on recruitment, volunteering, and the people hub, along with NHS staff providing CPR demos. They were also joined by HealthWatch Lincs and Organ Donation volunteers.
Nicola Housam is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner in Dermatology at United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Event Director at the Witham Way Country Park parkrun in Boston. She said: “It was brilliant to see so many walkers, runners and colleagues come out and show their support for the NHS.
“Professor Sir Jonathan Van-Tam and Chris Higgins, the Director of Operations at Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, started our run in Boston. As they both explained, there is no better partnership than that between parkrun and the NHS. The combination is great for physical and mental health, as well as a brilliant social event. Both of then not only ran the run, but also spent time talking to everyone after they had finished. The atmosphere was amazing and I would like to thank everyone for their support and for taking part.”
Kate Trollone, who is the Event Director at Yarborough Leisure Centre parkrun said: “It was such an amazing opportunity for us to team up with the NHS to celebrate together. The atmosphere was fabulous and we saw lots of new faces; we really hope they enjoyed it and will want to return.”
The parkrun came at the end of a week of birthday celebrations, which included local landmarks lighting up blue, communities holding Big Tea events to raise money for NHS charities and St Wulfram’s Church holding a special civic service.
For more information on parkrun UK please visit: parkrun UK Blog and for more information on NHS75 please visit: NHS Birthday 2023 | NHS 75.