A nurse at a Bristol charity had the honour of being the Lamp Carrier at the Florence Nightingale Commemorative Service at Westminster Abbey.
Emily Pimm was nominated from hundreds of Florence Nightingale Scholars and is the first nurse from the adult social care sector to be chosen as the Lamp Carrier.
Emily qualified as a nurse in 2006 and works as a social care deputy manager at St Monica Trust’s John Wills House Care Home in Westbury-on-Trym.
She was awarded a Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholarship in 2022 and has gone on to become a co-chair for the South West’s Social Care Nurse Advisory Council.
Emily said: “I’m so proud to represent social care nurses and to celebrate what has been an exciting and pivotal year for the care sector.
“The Florence Nightingale Foundation Leadership Scholarship and Social Care Nursing Advisory Council Programme has helped me to grow in many ways, as well as fuelling my passion to raise the voice and elevate the visibility of social care nurses.”
The commemorative service was on 15 May with 2,000 guests in attendance. The service is an annual celebration of thanks for nurses and midwives from across the UK who continue Florence Nightingale’s legacy.
Florence Nightingale was known as “The Lady with The Lamp” as she made her rounds at night tending to the soldiers wounded in the Crimean War.
The ceremonial lamp carried by Emily represents ‘the undying spirit of the service displayed by Florence Nightingale’, still demonstrated by nurses and midwives today.’
During the service, Emily was escorted by two Lamp Carriers and carried the burning lamp through the abbey where she placed it on the altar.
This year’s ceremony marked the 204th anniversary year of Florence Nightingale’s birth on 12 May 1820.
Chief executive of the St Monica Trust, David Williams, said: “Since she joined us in 2015, Emily has displayed a passion for ensuring that our residents can flourish within our care home environments and lead meaningful lives full of connection, contribution and choice. We could not be more proud of her.”