Captain Tom: Things will get better... it’s time to look forward

CAPTAIN Sir Tom Moore yesterday urged Britain to remain positive – and look forward to the future.

The Second World War veteran, who raised more than £ 38million for the NHS, insisted “tomorrow will be a better day” as he launched a campaign to end loneliness and help people struggling with losing a loved one.

The fundraising hero, who made international headlines as he completed more than 100 laps of his garden in Bedfordshire during lockdown, has created The Captain

Tom Foundation with his family.

For Captain Sir

Tom, who was knighted in July, the foundation’s aims of combatting loneliness and supporting those facing bereavement have been close to his heart since the death of wife Pamela in 2006.

He told yesterday how he visited Pamela every day for five years while she was in a care home until her death.

He said: “She was expected to be treated for six weeks but stayed for longer and died from dementia.

“I went to see her every day, day after day, until, in the last few years, I used to go at lunchtime to feed her because she couldn’t feed herself. I never resented that for a minute because I had a contract – in sickness and in health.”

He went on: “One day she said, ‘ If you didn’t come and see me I would be very lonely’. That struck a point in my heart, that was terrible.”

Speaking of the Rule of Six, he added: “It will be very unfortunate if we can’t have the usual Christmas celebrations and families getting together. That really

True Tru hero... Captain Sir Tom is knighted k in July and, left, with wit family in Bedfordshire

is something special. I’m very disappointed. Only having six people, I’m not happy about that. Six isn’t enough. So many families have more than six. Are they going to have a proper Christmas?”

But in an upbeat message, he urged people to believe the situation may improve over the coming months.

As he launched his autobiography, Tomorrow Will Be A Good Day, he told the Daily Express: “I have always been optimistic that things will get better.

“Things will get better, they always do.

“At the moment, we are going through a very difficult time, but it will get better. There is no doubt.”

Write stuff... Captain Sir Tom with his autobiography