On the 18th May team PS headed down to London to attend the RPS Fellows Dinner. Held in the new RPS building in East London and hosted by Fellows Chair Gill Hawksworth, the evening was a celebration of journeys, with a tour of the fantastic new RPS home, a stroll back in time to the days of Birdsgrove House (the charity’s former convalescence home) and a 1.75 mile swim!
“Over the last 175 years we have chartered a proud history for the RPS leading, developing and representing the pharmacy profession” commented Chair Gill Hawksworth. “In the RPS’s 175th anniversary year, we are also pleased to welcome to our dinner for the first time, Pharmacist Support, an independent charity which developed from the original RPS benevolent fund, who are also celebrating 175 years of support for the profession and recognised by the President as his 175th anniversary charity.”
Pharmacist Support was honoured to receive the invitation to the dinner and used the opportunity to take many attendees on a trip down memory lane. On display throughout the evening were original documents, photos and embroidery from Birdsgrove House in Derbyshire – a place of recuperation following illness or surgery for many in the profession for 40 years up until its sale in 2006.
On the night Gill announced that she had pledged to become a Pharmacist Support 175 hero and raise a minimum of £175 for the charity. “Birdsgrove house and the benevolent fund are dear to my heart as they featured a lot in what was my local branch of Huddersfield” she said. “My personal contribution in those days, to raising money to support pharmacists and their families, former pharmacists, pre-registration trainees and students who are in need was by doing a sponsored swim, so I intend to be a 175 hero by swimming 1.75 miles in my local pool.”
If you would like to support Gill in her Fellows 1.75 mile swim you can donate to her JustGiving page.