A LAMP FOR FLORENCE
Florence Nightingale’s bicentenary falls as museum struggles against closure during Covid-19 pandemic
Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of Florence Nightingale, the mother of modern nursing. A service was to be held at Westminster Abbey but it was cancelled due to coronavirus. Pictured is Nurse Arlene Lee at the Abbey.
HER NAME has re-entered the common vernacular in recent weeks while the legacy that she left as the founder of modern nursing has been felt at its most keenly for many decades.
And today marks 200 years since the birth of Florence Nightingale, whose surname has been proudly used for the new hospitals built especially to treat coronavirus patients.
However, a museum dedicated to ‘the Lady with the Lamp’ and the history of nursing itself is facing closure after losing money due to the outbreak.
Fundraisers are desperately trying to raise the £160,000 needed to save The Florence Nightingale Museum, based in the grounds of London’s St Thomas’ Hospital, which has been shut since lockdown began in March.
Bosses of the small independent charity say they face closing their doors – which opened 30 years ago – permanently after being left in dire financial straits due to lack of visitors.
Television antiques expert Charles Hanson will be holding an online auction from his garden shed next month, with all proceeds going towards the museum.
In April, he raised £38,000 for the NHS through a similar auction with lots donated
by celebrities such as Drew Pritchard from Salvage Hunters and actor Neil Morrissey.
Mr Hanson is hoping people will rally round to do the same to help secure the future of the museum.
He said: “Every week we’re gathering outside our homes to clap the NHS, such is our love and respect for nurses and health care workers.
“We’ve even built Nightingale
Hospitals to fight coronavirus. And yet this museum, which honours a global nursing icon, faces closure. No visitors means no income, and the situation could last 18 months. Enough to finish off any small charity.
“I was horrified when I learned about the museum’s plight. Florence Nightingale is one of Britain’s greatest historical figures.
“The image of the ‘Lady with the Lamp’ caring for soldiers during the Crimean War is iconic. Her lamp is in the museum. She pioneered nursing as we know it today. The loss of this museum is unthinkable.”`
David Green, director of the award-winning museum, said: “Until the virus struck, the museum was flying high. Visitor numbers had doubled in the last two years and we were expecting 72,000 people this year.
“Thanks to our success, we’d invested in an exhibition and events to mark Nightingale’s bicentenary on May 12, 2020, which is also International Nursing Day. That plan has backfired dramatically as we now have four months of operating costs left and will struggle to pay back the investment as we have no visitors.”
Despite furloughing most of its 13 staff, the museum has operating costs of around £20,000 per month.
The Florence Nightingale auction is due to take place on
Friday, June 5 at 7pm from Mr Hanson’s garden shed near Derby. Donations can also be made to the museum at www. gofundme.com/f/6ws3a-save-theflorence-nightingale-museum
Actress Helena Bonham Carter – whose great, great grandmother was Nightingale’s aunt – is marking the bicentenary by urging the public to buy a white rose online, to help fund nurses and midwives.
Until the virus struck, the museum was flying high.
David Green, director of The Florence Nightingale Museum.