Children from Heron Hill Primary School in Kendal have said a special ‘thank you’ to NHS staff for their care, bravery and dedication during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The pupils from Year 5 met with Aaron Cummins, Chief Executive of University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust (UHMBT) and members of staff at Westmorland General Hospital in Kendal on Tuesday 13 July.
Aaron said he was delighted to welcome the pupils to the hospital and thanked them for kindly thinking of people working in the NHS.
The children created gifts and made items to 'give back' to different individuals and sectors of the community; people that the children believed had experienced a particularly tough time during the last year or so. They did this without spending any money and asked local retailers for donations.
Thanks to several generous donations from local businesses, the pupils were able to bake sweet treats and cakes and create ‘hampers of happiness’, including artwork, needlecraft, bumblebee cafes and beautiful containers of pollinator plants. These were all things that the children took pleasure in during the difficult days of lockdown.
Karen Harper, Year 5 Teacher, said: “The children loved presenting the gifts to the team at Westmorland General Hospital - their local hospital - as they had been aware of some of the difficult situations that the doctors, nurses and other members of staff have had to work in.”
Aaron said: “I’d like to say a massive thank you to the pupils for thinking of us. These gifts will really help the wellbeing of those who look after our patients, which is one of the key areas of focus for our work this year.
“Everyone is still working very hard to keep people safe in our hospitals so it was lovely when the pupils came to visit. It was an incredibly touching and heart-warming thing for the pupils to do. Their thanks means such a lot to all of our staff who have been working hard and making huge sacrifices during the pandemic. Thank you to all of Year 5! We really appreciate it!”
For more information on this media release, please email: communications.team@mbht.nhs.uk