Thank you for taking time to have a look, and hopefully donate, at my justgiving page.

It is impossible to miss how many extraordinary nurses, doctors and other health care professionals in the NHS are black, mixed race or from other minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds. In fact, 20% of NHS staff are BME, which makes them more ethnically diverse in many instances than the populations they serve. And yet, the situation for those in senior positions is rather different. And do you know how many NHS trust chief executives are BME? Just one. Which is shocking.

It's time to put history right. wich brings me to Mary Seacole. Mary was a mixed race woman who had a distinguished international health care career before she applied to go to the Crimean War to nurse wounded and dying British soldiers. You can read more about what she did at www.maryseacoleappeal.org.uk,  and yet, despite all that she did and sacrificed, few people know about Mary’s important place in our history.

The Mary Seacole statue will be unveiled in the autumn of 2015 and is going to change that. It will be the first statue of a named black woman in the UK. It will stand 10 feet tall in a prime position outside St Thomas’ Hospital, directly opposite the Houses of Parliament. It will be seen by millions of people a year. Mary’s legacy will be to show young people of all ethnic backgrounds that skill and compassion, combined with application and determination, are the essential ingredients for success. Mary’s statue  will demonstrate that people like her, women and those from ethnic minority backgrounds, can succeed if they work hard, confront resistance and never give up hope.

So I am doing my small bit by running the Robin Hood Marathon and rattling my metaphorical collecting tin on the way. Please tell you friends, enemies, family and work colleagues. Spread the word! Use #run4seacole!!

Together we can put history right!

 Donate generously. 

THANK YOU!!