Posted on: 29 March 2021
Today CNWL came together to remember and commemorate the CNWL staff who had passed away this past year.
CNWL’s chair, Prof Dorothy Griffiths began the memorial reading the names of the CNWL staff who had passed away.
The Archdeacon of London, Father Luke Miller, led the multi-faith memorial; he said, “We’ve learnt to love and to respect our key workers, often unnoticed in the past, as during the pandemic we’ve come to see that we all depend on those whose work is not about themselves but so much about others. Today we are commemorating colleagues whom that service was offered at great cost.”
Imam Yunus was due to join us today but unfortunately could not as he was feeling unwell.
Ela Pathak and Varsha Dodhia from CNWL's BAME staff network joined the memoiral.
Ela Pathak said, “Today we come together as people of many faiths and of no faith, bound together to honour our colleagues, to pay respect to their memory and to thank them for their ultimate sacrifice. They did not ask to be heroes, we did and will continue to do what we do best, put ourselves forward to care for our patients and their families and each other.”
Varsha Dodhia lead us in the Hindu prayer Gayatri Mantra. She said, “As we move towards normalisation from the Covid pandemic let everyone feel positive as a new dawn.”
Penny Leese and Mags Halliday from HMP Woodhill Healthcare made a personal and heartfelt tribute to their colleague Craig Goldsney.
Claire Murdoch, CNWL’s Chief Executive said, “No one really dies until they are forgotten and those words are ringing in my ears today because our colleagues have not really left, they’re not really gone unless we forget them. Everything we’ve learned, everything that will take us into a future that will make us stronger; all of the innovations and all of the care, all of the tough times, all of the resilience we’ve found that will take us forward is hopeful, and as part of that hope and as part of that future I promise, and I’m sure all of you do too, that we will not forget the colleagues that we’ve lost. We owe them a huge debt of gratitude and I’m very proud of them and proud of you.”
The memorial is available to watch below: