Posted on: 17 May 2023

Florence Nightingale eventEight nurses from CNWL were invited to attend the annual Florence Nightingale Celebration at St Paul’s Cathedral yesterday (Tuesday 16 May) 

The celebratory event marks International Nurses Day each year and this year CNWL was represented by nurses from a range of nursing roles including Chief Nurse, Maria O'Brien (pictured centre left) with Shantell Naidu, Nurse Consultant for Diabetes in Camden (next to Maria), Kim Rice, Clinical Service Manager and Professional Lead Nurse for Hillingdon Community (second left), Gillian Buckley (second from right), Matron Beatrice Place and Ghada Karkotli (front far left), Learning Disability Nurse Consultant and Lwazi Grinly (front right), a nurse in Surrey Sexual Health Services.

They were joined by Isabella O’Higgins, a nurse in Collingham Child and Family Centre and Valerie Griffiths, a nurse on Fernely inpatient ward in Harrow.

Maria at Florence Nightingale eventFlorence Nightingale was known as “The Lady with The Lamp” as she made her rounds at night tending to the soldiers wounded in the Crimean War.

Central to the commemoration service is the Lamp. The Lamp was purchased in memory of Mrs Kathleen Dampier-Bennett, a supporter (committee member) of the Foundation from 1951 – 1968. The Lamp is inscribed in her memory and was dedicated by the Dean of Westminster at the service on 12 May 1970, the 150th anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth. It has been used at every service since.

You can watch a recording from the event at this link