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Karen, centre, with colleagues and Ben Llewellyn

Nurse’s thank you for new bike

A nurse has thanked generous colleagues and members of the public who helped fund a new bike after hers was stolen while she was on shift at RSH.

Karen Parker, a colorectal clinical nurse specialist mentioned the theft to colleague Paula Hilditch. Paula contacted her relative Ben Llewellyn, who is a mountain bike racer, to see if he could help find Karen a new bike and, after putting out a plea on Facebook, he raised more than £1,000. His friends from the cycling industry, together with staff from the hospital and friends and family, donated and Karen has now been presented with a new bike, helmet and lock. Karen said: “My bike has been my lifeline to get to work. Last month, it was stolen from the bike shelter. I went to look for it and at first I thought I'd forgotten where I'd put it. "I was annoyed because I loved it and it was an inconvenience. "I went in to work and mentioned what had happened and Paula said she was going to reach out to someone she knew in the cycling business. "It was just lovely to be presented with the new bike –it's amazing. I was taken aback. "Just the biggest thank you to Ben and everyone who contributed and to Paula and my work colleagues. It meant such a lot to me." Paula described Karen as a "true diamond" and said she was only too happy to help. "Karen has been a nurse all her working life, she is so caring and compassionate," Paula said. "She is a giver and puts everyone and everything before herself. "During the first wave of the pandemic, she was redeployed from our team and worked on a COVID-19 ward for many months. "I feel that by reaching out and being able to do such a wonderful, kind, amazing thing for Karen, it has restored her faith in mankind. "Without Ben, this would have been very difficult for us to achieve alone." Ben, who lives near Minsterley, added: "I posted on Facebook to see if anyone could help out and asked people to donate through PayPal. "Within six to seven hours we'd raised enough for the bike – we found one worth a little over £1,000 from Cob House Country Park in Worcestershire. "They donated £200, while The Trailhead Bicycle Company in Shrewsbury donated £100 and Will Chambers, from Blazing Bikes in Church Stretton gave another £100." After the cost of the bike was covered, £130 was leftover which is being donated to Bowel Cancer UK at Karen's request.

From Page 1 Championed by The Captain Tom Foundation - a charity set up in his honour to continue his legacy - his family are encouraging people to do their own challenges based around the number 100 to raise money for charity.

People are invited to organise their challenges to take place during the May Bank Holiday weekend, between Friday 30 April (on what would have been Tom’s 101st birthday) and Monday 3 May. All participants need to do is dream up a Captain Tom 100 challenge based around the number 100 and do it at anytime and anywhere over Captain Tom’s birthday weekend. The challenge could be walking 100 steps or running 100 metres, scoring 100 goals, baking 100 cakes, climbing 100 stairs, hopping 100 laps of the garden, building 100 sandcastles, writing a 100-word poem, flipping 100 pancakes – anything at all, inside or out. Once supporters have chosen their challenge, they can fundraise or donate to SaTH Charity and share their 100 on social media, using #CaptainTom100 Julia Clarke, Director of Corporate Services, said: “Captain Sir Tom was a complete inspiration to us all and he did more than anyone to raise vital funds to support NHS patients, staff and volunteers during this crisis, when help was most needed. “He also inspired so many people to take on their own challenges, from running marathons to swimming lakes, so this seems a fitting tribute to this extraordinary gentleman.” Find out more at www.sath.nhs.uk/about-us/

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Managers’ mental health and wellbeing briefings

During May and June we will be running Mental Health and Wellbeing Briefings for Managers.

These will aim to support line managers to have regular and supportive one-to-one conversations focussed on looking after the wellbeing of all our staff. Managers are encouraged to introduce these into their teams and departments during one-toone meetings and annual appraisals. It will also raise awareness of our current health and wellbeing offer, peer support systems and mental health resources. The briefing will be 90 minutes long, over MS Teams, and can be booked via the Training Diary, under the ‘Health & Wellbeing’ category, titled ‘Mental HWB Briefing for Managers’. Once booked onto the session joining instructions will be emailed to you shortly before the briefing.