Pause for Thought: A Long Walk
Captain Tom Moore’s amazing NHS fundraiser
by Rebecca Parkinson
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To consider Captain Tom Moore, who has raised millions of pounds for the NHS by completing 100 laps of his garden before his hundredth birthday.
Preparation and materials
- You will need to have the means available to play the videos below.
- Note: this is an ongoing story, so there may be more recent updates.
- Optional: for the ‘Extension activities’ section, you may need a skipping rope.
Assembly
Today, we are going to hear about an amazing man called Captain Tom Moore. He is 99 years old and will turn 100 on 30 April. When he heard about the coronavirus and the magnificent work that doctors and nurses were doing, he wanted to do something to help. Although he uses a walking frame to help him walk, Captain Tom decided to raise some money for the NHS by doing a sponsored walk.
Let’s look at these videos to find out what happened next!
Time for reflection
At the time of writing, Captain Tom Moore has raised over £28 million pounds for the NHS - and counting!
Each of us can do our bit to help each other right now. It might be something as simple as smiling at people, waving at them through a window or joining the Clap for Carers on our doorstep every Thursday night. We could place a rainbow or a teddy in the window to cheer people up, or even just be as helpful as possible around the house!
Let’s pause to think about what we could do to help each other right now.
Let’s pause to say, ‘Thank you’ to the NHS staff who are working so hard at the moment.
Song/music
‘You’ll never walk alone’ by Captain Tom Moore, Michael Ball and the NHS Voices of Care Choir, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcouA_oWsnU (4.33 minutes long)
Extension activities
If watching Captain Tom’s walk has got you thinking about exercise to try, why not find out a bit more about Rajinder Singh, the Skipping Sikh, who we saw in the second video? He releases daily fitness videos on YouTube to raise money for the NHS.
- In this video, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8BA7tzxeso (5.32 minutes long), Rajinder talks about the importance of exercise, especially skipping!
- You might like to have a tune to skip to, to help you to keep your rhythm. Listen to ‘Jump rope, jump rope’, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgUDYOlgx1M (2.21 minutes long)
Alternatively, you could try out some of the skipping rhymes available at: https://www.care.com/c/stories/3968/11-catchy-jump-rope-rhymes/en-ie/ - Maybe you could make up your own skipping rhyme!
