Residents from Brighton street come together to salute the NHS

Brighton Street Salutes NHS SUS-200607-123229001

Resident, Sean de Podesta, explained: “In 2018 to mark the 70th Anniversary of the NHS, Sussex Defend the NHS went round Brighton and Hove gathering more than 2,000 testimonies from local residents about what the NHS meant to them.

“The scroll was so long that it had never been displayed all together. For the last eighteen months it has been stored in my loft.

“I thought that displaying the scroll in its entirety for the first time would be a great way to say Thank You to all our NHS staff and other care workers for what they’ve done during for us during the Covid crisis. It is a 110-metre-long illustration of how important the NHS is to everyone in this country – and how critical it is to support it properly in the future.”

Sean worked with his neighbour, Jenny Engledow, who lives in Windmill Street, to put the plan into action.

Jenny continues the story: “With near-gale-force winds, Windmill Street – it was once the site of a windmill – was not the easiest place to display the scroll, but thanks to the ingenuity of everyone present, we managed to lay it out along the length of the street. It was a lovely, socially distanced community event encapsulating the value of us all caring for each other that is at the heart of what the NHS represents.”

Sussex Defend the NHS campaigns against the privatisation of the NHS, and is particularly concerned that this much loved national institution is being paid lip service only by the current government. Instead of awarding more and more contracts to big business during this crisis, the campaign believes the government needs to reward health and care staff with a rise in pay, and take radical steps to fund, staff and restore a full and truly public service, for all.