Hand over Hand

5 years after the project and exhibition ‘At Your Service’, I went back to the NHS and was one of 4 artists on a project to commemorate its 75th anniversary. Our National Health Stories was a collaborative project between 19 NHS Trusts, led by a national team that was headed up Kwame Kwei Armah, actor and artistic director of the Young Vic in London.

I worked with creative writer/poet Susan Downer on the first part of the project, starting on 5th July, exactly 75 years after the birth of the NHS. Together we collected poems and drawings, based on the daily working lives of staff at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. We also collated sound recording of the noises produced by machinery, tools and objects used in the different work environments.

In September we handed our gatherings over to a composer (Chris Bevan) and choreographer (Crystal Zillwood) who worked with members of staff to develop a sound, song and dance performance. With added poetry and animation, this performance was eventually staged in front of a live audience on 30th November at Theatre Deli Sheffield. The event was filmed and can be seen here (to be inserted)

All 19 Trusts worked together on showreel produced by the national team. This was shown on 23rd November and was followed by a finale event at Aviva Studios in Manchester with input from participating Trusts’ staff and artists, a team of actors with a script by Chris Bush (Standing at the Sky’s Edge musical), a live band and host Kwame Kwei-Armah. For more information about the national project visit www.ournhstories.org.uk