We had another trip to London Yesterday as we had been invited to the Mary Seacole exhibition & education programme launch at 4 pm 28/10 at the Florence Nightingale Museum.
We arrived early and was met by the trust and we went through to the Story Teller.
I love hearing of The life of Mary and her home mad medicines.
Mary Jane Grant was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1805. Her father was a Scottish soldier, and her mother a Jamaican. Mary learned her nursing skills from her mother, who kept a boarding house for invalid soldiers. Although technically ‘free’, being of mixed race, Mary and her family had few civil rights – they could not vote, hold public office or enter the professions. In 1836, Mary married Edwin Seacole but the marriage was short-lived as he died in 1844.
Seacole was an inveterate traveller, and before her marriage visited other parts of the Caribbean, including Cuba, Haiti and the Bahamas, as well as Central America and Britain. On these trips she complemented her knowledge of traditional medicine with European medical ideas. In 1854, Seacole travelled to England again, and approached the War Office, asking to be sent as an army nurse to the Crimea where there was known to be poor medical facilities for wounded soldiers. She was refused. Undaunted Seacole funded her own trip to the Crimea where she established the British Hotel near Balaclava to provide ‘a mess-table and comfortable quarters for sick and convalescent officers’. She also visited the battlefield, sometimes under fire, to nurse the wounded, and became known as ‘Mother Seacole’. Her reputation rivalled that of Florence Nightingale.
After the war she returned to England destitute and in ill health. The press highlighted her plight and in July 1857 a benefit festival was organised to raise money for her, attracting thousands of people. Later that year, Seacole published her memoirs, ‘The Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole in Many Lands’.
Seacole died on 14 May 1881 and her grave is in St Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Kensal Green, London.
This is just what the Exhibition needed and it will bring to life the story for the children that all seemed so enthralled by Mary as it is taught in schools now. She did so much for nursing the soldiers in the Crimea alongside Florence Nightingale.
Trevor Stirling Also spoke of all that was achieved in raising the money for the Statue and the gardens here at St Thomas’s Hospital.
He had seen me in the Audience and so Introduced me as a Modern Day Mary but he wants all the children to name their votes for people they know.
Yaa Dankwa Ampadu-Sackey
Barrister-at-Law (England & Wales); Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court (Ghana); PgDip Law; BA Hons
Had the most educative and informative evening at the Launch of the Florence Nightingale Museum Mary Seacole exhibit and The Young Seacole Ambassadors project.
Great discussions with Trevor D Sterling and Alice de Coverley about the School Exclusions Project!!
Met with Mavis Nye!!! What an amazing evening!!!
Education
The Trust will inform the public about Mary Seacole’s life and work through an expansion of the Seacole exhibition at the Florence Nightingale Museum, close to the statue at St Thomas’ Hospital.
In addition, the launch of the Young Seacole Ambassador initiative will appeal to a younger generation across the country, encouraging them to consider Mary’s inspirational qualities in the context of the modern day. There will be an essay competition for year 5 and 6 school students, asking them: ‘Who is your modern-day Mary Seacole?’ The competition will initially be open to children in the Lambeth and Southwark area, where the statue is based, with the aim of rolling this out nationally in the future.
The new website will also be used as a gateway for those across all generations to access relevant news articles and activities associated with the Trust’s programmes.
http://www.maryseacoletrust.org.uk/programmes/
So we had a drink and nibbles and then went outside to visit the statue.
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