Tales Of Positivity: Colonel Tom Moore

When looking at some rays of sunshine of a time period that, quite frankly, has been relatively bleak, it does not take long before you come across recently appointed Colonel Tom Moore. What started as one man wanting to ‘do his bit’ with the aim of raising £1,000 by completing 100 laps of his garden before his 100^th birthday, escalated into something previously unthinkable.

At the conclusion of the appeal, the then Captain Tom Moore had raised close to £33 million for the NHS, with 1.5 million people donating a whopping £32,794,701. A whirlwind six weeks saw not only his fundraising target surpassed, but a message from the queen and prime minister, saw him become an honorary Colonel, an RAF flyover to celebrate his birthday and a special BBC program to commemorate his achievements. To top all that he is also the oldest person ever to have a number hit in the UK which his heart felt version of ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ with singer Michael Ball. Whilst the story has, by his own admission, been blown completely out of proportion in terms of his expectations, this is yet further examples of the compassion and modest nature of Britain’s favourite personality. His humility and patriotic nature has firmly labelled him as inspiration to thousands, if not millions all over the country.

Born in Keighley, West Yorkshire, a stone’s throw away from Brook Taverner’s head office, Colonel Tom has shown the positives of sheer kind-hearted nature and patriotic spirit. It is certainly nice to see a change in the normal ‘viral’ stories and gain an insight into a man who has placed others and his country above himself and perhaps even better, it’s been fantastic to see the country recognise his achievements so wholeheartedly. It is rare that, as a nation, we are all capable on agreeing on something. The celebration of Colonel Tom has, most definitely, provided that ray of sunshine we all needed.