Saturday the 5th July will be the 66th birthday of the NHS - A celebration via @butNHS

Saturday the 5th July will be the 66th birthday of the NHS and we should celebrate. There will be a series of events organised on the day under the banner NHS66. One of these should be the biggest themed birthday party ever held.

How will it work?

This is of course not one party but a lot of separate parties held by individuals or organisations with a common theme – the birthday of the NHS – and all happening on the same day.

There are no rules about what form they should take. Indoors or outdoors, barbecue or fine dining, disco or ballroom – anything goes. The main thing is that they should be held primarily to celebrate the NHS and badged with the NHS66 logo.

Fancy dress is often a popular option but there are others. You could make your party a fundraiser if you wish. The main thing is that there should be an explicit purpose - to celebrate the achievements and longevity of the NHS. Please use the NHS66 logo wherever possible. Talk and tweet about you party as much as you can. Spread the word.

A key unifying initiative is to ask everyone involved to tweet pictures of their party with the tag #NHS66 during the evening. This will be the glue that joins these events together and makes it a unified whole and hopefully will justify the claim that it is the nation’s biggest birthday party ever – though I doubt we will be able to prove this.

What should you do?

This is hardly rocket science. Just sort out a venue, decide on the format, invite your guests and have a great time on the day. I have put together a graphic which you may find helpful. Please feel free to copy and share this widely.

 

I would like to keep tabs on what is happening so please let me know if you are organising a party, roughly where it will be held (no need to give a precise location)  and  approximately how many are coming. I will tweet the stats at intervals. You can email details to me on butNHS@btinternet.com.

Come on – it is on a Saturday, it will be the middle of summer and this is a good cause. What better excuse to have a party. Let's do it!

Finally – although there are serious issues in the NHS there is good reason to celebrate its successes. There is no need to make excuses for having fun. Don’t forget though that there will be other events under the badge NHS66 taking place on the day. Please try to make time to support these as well.