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The National Health Service was founded on the 5th July 1948.

poster with "Our NHS is 70" in blue heart, website address, and quote from Aneurin Bevan's In Place of Fear - "The resources of medical skill and the apparatus of healing shall be placed at the disposal of the patient, without charge, when he or she needs them ... they should be made available to rich and poor alike in accordance with medical need and by no other criteria.”

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the service, Keep Gloucestershire’s NHS Public organised a variety of events and activities – encouraging Stroud residents to celebrate and reflect on the principles of the NHS and their value.

We held a big celebration party and picnic at the Lansdown Hall and in Bank Gardens, 10am – 5.30pm Saturday 7th July – with talks, stalls, music, dancing, and children’s activities. See the short video below and more recordings to come – check our Videos page!

Lots of people and shops displayed posters in their windows or cars – the poster has a Bevan quote and “Our NHS is 70” heart and is downloadable as an A3 pdf (when printing, you should be able to select “Fit to page” to print at A4).

Volunteers helped at our exhibition and on the celebration day, and

We made bunting with Atelier Stroud, which lots of shops hung in their windows

And artists contributed illustrations of Aneurin Bevan quotes

All the events were free entry, but cost us money to put on – even though the organisers were all volunteers.

If you can afford it please donate via: gofundme.com/nhs70stroud

Find out about the events we organised:

  1. An exhibition: NHS funding past, present and future, Lansdown Gallery, 11am-5pm Monday 25th – Saturday 30th June. Helping people learn about and discuss the NHS budget and Private Finance Initiatives.
  2. Exhibition launch event at Lansdown Gallery, 6-9pm Monday 25th June, with Helen Mercer from People vs PFI, John Dougherty singing a song from the Stroud Maternity Matters campaign, Stuart Butler talking about the ‘three anniversaries’ (including the docking of HMT Empire Windrush and the end of WW1)
  3. Coach transport from Stroud to the celebration and demonstration in London on Saturday 30th June.

“Society becomes more wholesome, more serene, and spiritually healthier, if it knows that its citizens have at the back of their consciousness the knowledge that not only themselves, but all their fellows, have access, when ill, to the best that medical skill can provide.” – Aneurin Bevan, In Place of Fear, 1952

The New National Health Service booklet cover - Your new National Health Service begins on 5th July. What is it? How do you get it? It will provide you with all medical, dental, and nursing care. Everyone-rich or poor, man, woman or child-can use it or any part of it. There are no charges, except for a few special items. There are no insurance qualifications. But it is not a "charity". You are all paying for it, mainly as taxpayers, and it will relieve your money worries in times of illness