Today our Head of Communications Luke Upton sat down with Christine Thomas, Chairperson of Cerulean Blue, a charity dedicated to paying tribute to NHS and Care Home workers who died during the Covid-19 pandemic and the families they left behind.

Luke Upton (LU). Cerulean Blue was launched during Covid-19, what led to you founding it? 

Christine Thomas (CT): My beloved aunt, Margaret Parkes, passed away from Covid-19 on 29th April 2020. A remarkable lady, she worked as a nurse, midwife and counsellor across the UK and even in the USA, making a huge and positive impact on many, many lives. I was very close to her and supported her care at weekends with two other lovely carers, Fahima and Marina providing support in the week. We worked well as a team.

Margaret was moved to a care home from hospital in February 2020, which I guess was in anticipation of the pandemic. I sat in hospital with Margaret during Christmas 2019 watching the news on TV about the developing Covid-19 situation in China. We spoke about how it would maybe spread to UK. Little did we know…

Margaret settled well in the Care Home and with caring staff she soon made a few friends. Shortly after visits to care homes stopped nationally, sadly I received the devastating news that Margaret had Covid-19. Only five people attended her funeral because of the restrictions. 

LU:  Where did the name of the charity come from? 

CT: Margaret lived in a flat overlooking the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester city centre and her chair had placed her so that she could always see the sky. On the occasions when there was a clear sky, she would always comment, “see that, it’s Cerulean Blue”, I had never heard of Cerulean before and had to look it up! It’s such a lasting memory for me of her. 

LU: What sort of activity do you do? And who benefits from it? 

CT: When founded in September 2021, in memory of Margaret, I set up the idea of Cerulean Blue. Two volunteers, Sheilla and Frank became trustees to establish a Charitable Trust. We planned to support families of nurses who had died caring for their patients during the pandemic. Despite contacting many hospitals, nursing and press organisations I was unable to make direct contact (GDPR) with any families. 

An article written in Nursing Times enabled us to share the names of nurses who lost their lives during the pandemic and in 2022 we planned an Annual Bereavement Day. An ongoing lack of funding led to total despondency and a decision to want to close the charity. I contacted Localgiving to discuss how we should plan to use money from the Magic Little Grant we had received. Our conversation really boosted my morale – it felt amazing! Ellis from your community team, came back to me suggesting that she did not feel it appropriate to merely donate it to The Florence Nightingale Trust.

But in maintaining the grant’s purpose, maybe use it towards a ‘legacy video’. I guess you could say that the rest is history, and we re-wrote the constitution to “Thank and Remember the sacrifices and bravery of the nurses during the pandemic to ensure the actions at the time from the public are not forgotten”.

Despite all the actions from the government in recent months appearing to denigrate nurses as a ploy to privatise the NHS we must not take our eyes off this strategy to revive the positive actions taken by the public during the pandemic. An
annual collective event will ensure we keep it in the public psyche. Going forward, our annual Bake2Donate campaign will mark key dates 23rd to 29th March when key healthcare workers began their tireless efforts to care for millions of Covid-19 patients.

LU:  What’s been the role of Localgiving with the charity?

CT: A huge thank you for all the support that we have received to date from Localgiving. Without it, we almost certainly would have folded by now. I received a real boost in confidence after talking to your colleague Ellis, hearing some great advice on where to emphasise our limited resources. Your support has really been invaluable, and of course the very Magic Little Grant we received from you and the People’s Postcode Lottery made a big difference to what we have been able to do and support my ongoing commitment to my late aunt. Thank you! 

Find out more about Cerulean Blue, Bake2Donate and donate yourself by clicking here.