National treasure
Royal Mail is celebrating Captain Thomas Moore’s 100th birthday today with a special postbox in honour of his incredible efforts to raise money for the NHS.
The postbox is painted ‘NHS blue’ and includes a golden balloon and birthday greetings in honour of Captain Tom’s 100th birthday. The special postbox is located on Bedford Road, MK43 0LA in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, close to where Captain Tom lives.
Earlier this week, we issued a special postmark to celebrate Captain Tom’s landmark year. The postmark, which reads: ‘Happy 100th Birthday Captain Thomas Moore NHS fundraising hero 30 April 2020,’ will be applied across all stamped mail until Friday 1 May.
A little over a month ago, Captain Tom was a little-known war veteran, who simply wanted to do something to help the NHS, which saved his life after he suffered a fall and was then diagnosed with skin cancer.
He decided to walk 100 laps of his garden in Bedfordshire, with the aid of his walking frame, in an effort to raise £1,000 by the time he became a centenarian. As of today, the champion fundraiser’s total stands at more than £30.5 million.
To deal with the huge volume of birthday mail being sent to Captain Tom, colleagues at our South Midlands Mail Centre have had to adapt their sorting machines to re-route all of his mail into a dedicated collection box. So far, we have processed more than 125,000 cards for Captain Tom using this new process.
Volunteers have also been brought in to open and display the thousands of cards, which are being put on show at Bedford School, where Captain Tom's grandson, Benjie Ingram-Moor attends. Benjie turned to his school for help when he learned that Bedford Delivery Office was struggling with the sheer number of cards they were receiving.
Bedford delivery office manager, Shaun Hughes, said: ‘We have been inundated with cards for Captain Tom over the past two weeks. To date, we have received more than 690 trays of cards and a huge number of parcels.
‘The team have worked tirelessly to sort through this mail and ensure we can get the mail to the team of workers at Bedford School every day with an average of five yorks a day.
‘It is an honour and a pleasure to do this for such an inspirational man who has raised so much for charity. We hope these cards make his special day that little bit more special.’
Press play for a glimpse of colleagues at South Midlands Mail Centre processing Captain Tom’s cards.
David Gold, director of public affairs and policy, said: ‘We wish Captain Thomas Moore a very happy 100th birthday. His achievements are truly phenomenal, and this is reflected in the affection shown for him across the world.
‘We are working hard to keep the country connected during these uncertain times and celebrating Captain Tom’s 100th birthday with a special postbox, alongside the postmark announced earlier in the week.
‘We continue to deliver the many tens of thousands of birthday cards sent from across the UK and abroad as people look to show their gratitude for all Captain Tom has achieved. We would like to extend our own best wishes and congratulations to him from everyone at Royal Mail.’
The Second World War veteran, who served in the 1st battalion of the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment in India and Burma, became the first ever centenarian to top the charts when his duet with Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir of You’ll Never Walk Alone went straight to number one. Last week, he was honoured with a Pride of Britain award. And ITV has announced it will screen a documentary about him on the 75th anniversary of VE Day on 8 May. When he opened a new Nightingale Hospital in Harrogate in a virtual ceremony, he received a standing ovation from NHS staff and military personnel.
Pictured: OPGs Jason Smart and Amber Mousley.
