UHDB marks Remembrance Day 2025 as colleagues share reflections on importance of remembrance
Trigger warning: this story includes personal accounts of war and loss
Colleagues, patients and visitors across University Hospitals of Derby and Burton (UHDB) gathered to pay their respects and honour our Armed Forces on Remembrance Day - with services held across each of our hospitals yesterday (Tuesday 11 November).
Colleagues shared readings and poetry as patients and staff assembled to reflect on the sacrifices made by those who have served and observe the two minutes' silence at 11am, following The Last Post, organised by the Armed Forces Colleague Network.
Chris Upton, UHDB's Armed Forces Covenant Manager and a veteran of long service in the Royal Navy, shared why Remembrance is important to him.
"I feel so proud of people I know and people I don't who come together at this time of year, wearing poppies, seeing poppies on cars and lorries and lampposts, and seeing collectors for the Royal British Legion's Poppy Appeal. Everyone coming together, showing their support. And then there are the services, nationwide, from the big cities to the small villages - all showing respect for the fallen and for those who come back from conflict broken," he said.
"At UHDB, it makes me proud to work for the Trust, seeing the support colleagues always give this time of year. It's a very humbling time for myself working for the Trust - and as long as we keep this up, we will remember them always."
At Royal Derby Hospital, Chaplain Marise Hargreaves led a service alongside Stephen Posey, Chief Executive, and Dr Gis Robinson, Executive Chief Medical Officer, while Rebecca Patel, Associate Director for Health, Safety and Wellbeing, read a self-written poem called 'Field of Red'. Andrew Cochrane, HM Vice Lord-Lieutenant of Derbyshire, joined UHDB Interim Chair Ian Lichfield and Senior Organisational Practitioner Alistair Hemmings - a data analyst with the RAF Reserves - in the laying of the wreaths.
At Queen's Hospital Burton, Chris Upton, Armed Forces Covenant Manager, and Commander Charles Bagot Jewitt, Deputy Lord Lieutenant, were part of the service, while those attending at Florence Nightingale Community Hospital saw Jill Matthews, Chief Officer for Derby and Burton Hospitals Charity, and Karen Hill, Lead Nurse Professional Standards, recite readings.
Chris Upton (righthand picture, second from left, at the Remembrance Day service at Queen's Hospital Burton) shared reflections on the importance of remembrance to him, as a veteran of long service in the Royal Navy.
There were also services held at Samuel Johnson Community Hospital and Sir Robert Peel Community Hospital, while each gave our colleagues, patients and visitors the opportunity to stop and remember the fallen, and those who continue to serve to this day - and the legacy they have all left.
One touching example saw colleagues from Ward 3 at QHB support several patients from the ward to attend the service at the Memorial Garden, so they could pay their respects.
Explaining the impact of Remembrance Day, Chris also shared: "For me, this is a personal time to remember and honour brothers, particularly those who made the ultimate sacrifice. It can also be a quiet, personal day of reflections - I tend to choose spending time with my family to remember my mates who have fallen.
"It is a really bad time of the year for myself, riddled with survivor's guilt, 'what ifs' and 'maybes'. But I always think of the good times we had, the trouble we got into on tours of duty together."
The Remembrance Services followed on from the attendance of the Royal British Legion (RBL) Riders Branch at RDH and QHB last month. Members of the Riders Branch set up poppy stands at both hospitals to raise money for the Poppy Appeal - with an impressive £5,663.92 raised across the two days.
Thank you to everyone across the UHDB community who attended one of the Remembrance events or have donated to help support the RBL Poppy Appeal in the lead-up to Remembrance Day.
Elaine Day is one of our Appointed Governors >. As part of Remembrance Day, she wanted to share memories of her father-in-law William Day, who served in the Second World War and spent the rest of his life as a collector for the Poppy Appeal, educating people on the importance of remembrance.
"My father-in-law, William Day, died at Queen's Hospital Burton more than 20 years ago. He was looked after with warmth, care, dedication and compassion.
"Earlier in his life, he served all through the Second World War, landing on Gold Beach on D Day 1. He never spoke to us much about the war, except when chastised by his sister at Sheffield Station when he was 'found' after being listed as 'missing' for 18 months. She commented that his great coat was filthy (she was lost for words - and that did not happen often!) when he replied quietly that his coat had covered many dying comrades of all nationalities as they succumbed to their injuries.
"As a Headteacher at Fairmeadows Foundation Primary School in Newhall, Derbyshire, I asked Popsie (William) to come and speak to the children about the hours he spent selling poppies every year after he left the army. He talked to them gently about why we all need to remember with thanks for being free and being able to live in a safer society. They listened with complete awe. He let them hold his medals and asked questions, those sort of questions adults shy away from! He answered with pride and hope for their future.
"A few years later, Popsie died and his funeral was held whilst I was on a visit to France with the older children. We visited Gold Beach and the children talked with incredible respect about how I must be feeling to have lost the special man they met and also about how he was a hero. They were keen to point out a hero not like Batman but a real hero who played a part in a war for the sake of others, to make sure liberty and freedom won over tyranny and oppression.
"Those children learned more from Popsie than I ever thought possible.
"I will always remember William Day, DCM with great affection and hope - hope that my pupils will remember him too as a soldier but also as a poppy seller who believed in what he did with pride and respect for his fallen and injured comrades.
"He stood to attention at the Cenotaph each year with only his memories, which he felt many of which were too horrific to share. A poppy seller to the end. A comrade to the end too."