On July 5 1948, the brass band from the Main Colliery trooped up to the doctor’s surgery in , and began to play. The doctor hung the union flag out of the window and gave them all a drink. The NHS had arrived.

Re-enacting this historic event on Sunday 8 July, 2018 Background to today’s event

The NHS was born on 5 July, 1948, when GP surgeries, hospitals, doctors, nurses and a numerous other workers came together to form a giant health organisation funded from taxes and free at the point of need. On that historic day, health minister Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan went into what’s now called Trafford Hospital, Manchester to meet patients and announce the launch of the NHS. As he was doing so, 70 miles away in the mining village of Edlington, , the village was also heralding the birth of free healthcare for all with its own musical tribute. The brass band from Yorkshire Main Colliery triumphantly marched down the road to the village’s GP surgery – then based in a large detached house opposite the cemetery -and played a number of celebratory tunes. Dr James O’Donnell – affectionately known as Dr Jimmy - hung a Union Jack flag from his window and gave them all a drink – the NHS had arrived. And almost exactly 70 years on, Edlington is today remembering this historic event by re-enacting the parade made by the pit bandsmen. Yorkshire Main closed in 1986 and Dr Jimmy’s surgery is now a private home, see alongside. But the sense of occasion will be captured by the acclaimed City of Sheffield Pipe Band, marching from The Hilltop Centre the few hundred yards to the Martinwells Centre – the village’s £7m GP ‘super surgery’ which opened nine years ago. The village’s long association with mining will be showcased by former pitmen and their families marching behind a recently produced reproduction of the miners’ union banner that would have been in service the day the NHS was born. Further links with Edlington’s past will be maintained by today’s drum major, Dave White, who will carry the mace from the former New Edlington Corps Pipe Band, St John Ambulance. The mace – pictured - has been kindly loaned for today’s event by the family of its last owner Ted Corney. Ted, a former Doncaster Town Cryer who was known locally as a ‘Yorkshireman who played the bagpipes’, was the last drum major of the New Edlington Corps Pipe Band before it disbanded. At the Martinwells Centre the parade will be greeted by Dr Ravindra Nayar - an Edlington GP for more than 30 years, who will hold up a flag and hand out celebratory soft drinks while the band plays on. Whilst today’s event looks back some seven decades, it’s also fitting to look forward to the future, and to the next 70 years of the NHS. We are grateful to pupils from Sir Thomas Wharton Academy for their health-related drama presentation and reading, which will take place in front of the Martinwells Centre – the new, modern face of the NHS in Edlington. Thanks also to

for sponsoring this Celebrating 70 years commemorative booklet of the NHS in Edlington

Programme (Timings are approx.)

9am: Edlington Hilltop Centre. Listen to the City of Sheffield Pipe Band. 9.25am: Welcome from Rt Hon Caroline Flint MP, Member of Parliament for Don Valley. 9.30am: Parade starts. Follow the band to the Martinwells Centre. 9:45am: Arrive at Martinwells Centre, greeted by Edlington GP, Dr Ravindra Nayar . 9:50am: Role-play and poetry reading by Years 9 and 10 pupils from Sir Thomas Wharton Academy, under the guidance of drama teacher Emma Hudson. Pupils taking part: John Avery, Alyssa Barber, Hannah Bellis, Lucy Buckley, Daisy Ellison, Ben Ferguson, Bethany Fisher, Sophie Gregory, Liam Morris, Roisin Steele, Katie Thompson, Owen Thorpe. The poem, These are the Hands, is by Michael Rosen and you can read it overleaf. 10am: A few words from: • Doncaster Mayor Ros Jones. • Councillor Robert Reid, Mayor of Edlington. • Dr David Crichton, Chair, NHS Doncaster Clinical Commissioning Group. 10.15am: Celebratory soft drinks, kindly provided by Asda, while the band plays on. An opportunity to look at the Then and Now photos in the Martinwells Centre and the display of old pharmacy memorabilia provided by Weldricks Pharmacy. Please take home a copy of the booklet The New National Health Service. It was sent to every home in the country in 1948 to mark the coming of the National Health Service and we’ve reproduced it to celebrate the 70th anniversary. 10:30am: Finish Thanks to South Yorkshire Police, Doncaster Council, Edlington Town Council, Edlington Hilltop Centre, Sir Thomas Wharton Academy, Edlington Victoria Academy, The Nayar Practice, Integral and Asda for helping us to stage this event. These are the Hands By Michael Rosen (1946- )

These are the hands That touch us first Feel your head Find the pulse And make your bed.

These are the hands That tap your back Test the skin Hold your arm Wheel the bin

Change the bulb Fix the drip Pour the jug Replace your hip.

These are the hands That fill the bath Mop the floor Flick the switch Soothe the sore

Burn the swabs Give us a jab Throw out sharps Design the lab.

And these are the hands That stop the leaks Empty the pan Wipe the pipes Carry the can

Clamp the veins Make the cast Log the dose And touch us last.

Michael Rosen was commissioned to write this poem in 2008 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the NHS that year. He was the UK Children’s Laureate at the time and wrote the poem with children in mind.