Mary Seacole Trust Chair Trevor Sterling has welcomed the naming of the first Seacole rehabilitation centre to help in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
The official opening of the NHS Seacole Centre, Headley Court took place on Monday 4 May 2020, attended by Health Secretary Matt Hancock, Chief Nursing Officer for England Ruth May, MST Chair Trevor Sterling, MST Vice Chair Lisa Rodrigues CBE and MST Ambassador Dr Habib Naqvi MBE.
Mr Sterling, who had the prestigious role of unveiling the centre, comments:
“The coronavirus is the biggest challenge to our country and our population in living memory. It is great that Mary Seacole, famous for battling disease and pioneering community rehabilitation, is being recognised in our country’s response to the virus.
“We thank all healthcare staff for their amazing contribution to our communities.”
Dr Habib Naqvi MBE, Ambassador for the Mary Seacole Trust and deputy director of the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard said:
“We are living through the biggest challenge to our country and our population in living memory. Over 150 years ago, the pioneering British-Jamaican nurse Mary Seacole faced similar challenges.
“During the Crimean War, Mary set up community-based quarters for primary healthcare, for the treatment and rehabilitation of the sick and wounded. Mary was renowned for delivering hands on, holistic care across a variety of settings.
“Rehabilitation is absolutely critical to the success of our NHS COVID19 response, and Headley Court has been established as a rehabilitation centre to support the needs of people during, and after, this challenging time.
“It is absolutely fitting that this centre is now named the Seacole Centre – reflecting the values of good citizenship, community service, and inclusion, that defined Mary Seacole.”
Mary Seacole’s inspiring story will soon be brought to life in a film by UK based production company, Racing Green Pictures. The film stars UK actress Gugu Mbatha Raw who recently starred in ‘Misbehaviour’. Opposite Gugu, Sam Worthington of Avatar fame plays Thomas her wayward partner who assists her through the journey.
Billy Peterson, owner of Racing Green Pictures says, “Mary Seacole is the perfect example of the stories we aim to produce for the big and small screen. This true, socially impactful, humanitarian film about a strong woman of colour persevering against all odds is exactly what today’s theatre going audiences are thirsting for.
“This film will help include and strengthen Mary Seacole’s story in curriculums in addition to shining a light on the importance of nurses and healthcare workers around the world.
“Mary’s life story is not only unfathomable for the time she was living in, it is an instantaneous, universally relevant and an historically accurate portrait of a healthcare heroine who put her life on the line to save others during disaster.”
For further details about the Mary Seacole Trust please contact:
Trevor Sterling, MST Chair
07802 291147
Trevor.Sterling@mooreblatch.com
For further details about the Mary Seacole film please contact:
Kate Wake-Walker
07885 443717
Notes to Editor – Mary Seacole Trust
Mary Seacole was born of Jamaican/Scottish parents in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805 and followed in her mother’s footsteps as a doctress, nurse and entrepreneur. In 1850, she nursed victims of the Jamaican cholera outbreak.
Mary loved to travel and in 1851 single-handedly cared for patients during a cholera epidemic in Panama. Back in Jamaica, Mary looked after victims of a yellow fever epidemic in 1853 and the British army asked her to supervise nursing services at their headquarters in Up-Park Camp, Kingston.
Mary Seacole’s role in the Crimean War is well documented. She was mentioned in dispatches where her contributions were praised, and she was warmly described as ‘Mother Seacole’. Mary died in London in 1881 and is buried in St Mary’s Cemetery, Kensal Green.
The Mary Seacole Memorial Statue Appeal (MSMSA) was set up in 2003 by Lord Soley of Hammersmith. In October 2016, the charity was reconstituted as the Mary Seacole Trust, just a few months after the statue was unveiled in the grounds of St Thomas’ Hospital.
Mary Seacole Trust aims:
- To educate and inform the public about the life, work and achievements of Mary Seacole
- To ensure the maintenance of the permanent public memorial in the garden of St Thomas’ Hospital
- To promote Mary Seacole as a role model, supporting those involved in tackling social challenges of inequality, with a particular focus on young people and the promotion of good citizenship, entrepreneurship and achievement
- To build on the legacy of Mary Seacole and campaign for fairness and equality, promoting diverse leadership in private and public service, including, although not limited to, the NHS in the UK.
Further information on the Mary Seacole Trust can be found at: https://www.maryseacoletrust.org.uk/
Notes to Editor – Mary Seacole Film
Before lockdown, UK based production company, Racing Green Pictures was finalising the filming and editing of its movie, ‘Seacole’ due for release later this year. The film stars Gugu Mbatha Raw (‘Belle’, ‘Misbehaviour’, ‘Motherless Brooklyn’) and Sam Worthington (‘Avatar’ and ‘Unabomber’). It tells the true story of Mary Seacole, a pioneering Jamaican nurse who cared for wounded British soldiers during the Crimean War and found herself at odds with Florence Nightingale, played by Sylvia Hoeks (‘Blade Runner’). Directed by Charlie Stratton (‘In Secret’) the film focuses on Mary’s life during the Crimean War. After the death of her husband, a merchant named Edwin Seacole, she made the decision to dedicate her life to care for the sick and wounded. In 1853 she applied to join Florence Nightingale’s nursing team In London but was rejected so decided to undertake her mission directly to the battlefield in Crimea. There she built ‘The British Hotel’ and became a central heroine caring and nursing for wounded and dying soldiers on the front of the Crimean War; she was a symbol of hope to wounded British soldiers who gave her the name, Mother Seacole.
Mary Seacole Trust
Patrons
- Clive Soley, Lord Soley of Hammersmith
- Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu
MST Trustees
- Dawn Hill CBE, President
- Trevor Sterling, Chair
- Raf Alam
- Karen Bonner RGN/ DipN/ BSc (Hons)/ MSc
- Colonel David Bates ARRC
- Jean Gray, MST Media Adviser
- Lisa Rodrigues CBE
- Jermaine Sterling
- Mark Douglas
Ambassadors
- Martin Griffiths
- Habib Naqvi
