EARLY DAYS

It is our proudest achievement as a country and its extraordinary staff are by our side during our happiest and most heartbreaking moments. And last night, to celebrate the National Health Service’s 70th birthday, the first ever NHS Heroes Awards, brought to you by ITV and the Mirror, proudly gave our most treasured institution and its extraordinary people the recognition it so deserves.

NHS founder, Labour Minister of Health Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, was the guest everyone wished was there.

Trailblazing Averil Mansfield CBE – who in 1993 became the first female professor of surgery – was presented with the Aneurin Bevan Lifetime Achievement Award by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall.

“I’m not a hero,” Averil protested. Camilla, in dazzling blue, shook her head. She said: “I not only want to say thank you to this wonderful lady here, but I would also like to say a huge thank you to all of you who work so tirelessly for the wonderful NHS, you are all heroes and I salute you all.”

Actor and activist Michael Sheen quoted Bevan on stage, saying: “We have been the dreamers, we have been the sufferers, now we are the builders.”

And we met Aneira Thomas, who was born on the very first day of the NHS in Bevan’s South Wales.

“They told my mum to stop pushing so I could be the first baby born into