We had a lovely par-tea

Tuesday 5 July 2022 saw the 74^th birthday of the NHS – happy birthday NHS!

With many a brew being poured in homes, businesses, schools and communities, it was tea-rrific to see so many Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust staff celebrating together with a much-deserved cuppa and slice of cake.

Sussex Community NHS Charity, our Trust’s official charity, encouraged our staff and community to get involved in the NHS Big Tea – which brings the nation together over a cuppa to raise money and thank the NHS - and you didn’t disappoint.

Several staff set up tea parties to raise funds for our charity, with activities including bake sales, raffles and ‘guess the number of teabags’ – which really is trickier than you would think!

A big thank you to those fundraisers - all donations will go to support staff, patient and volunteer projects that go above and beyond what core NHS provides.

The NHS Big Tea was headed by NHS Charities Together and sponsored by Morrisons supermarket. This provided our charity with a great opportunity to spend some time at the Brighton store with their Community Champion, Lou. Having some chats, biscuits, and brews with customers was a fantastic way to help raise awareness of the celebration and the work our charity does to support our Trust.

Congratulations goes to the Chichester Child Development Centre who won the charity ballot for an NHS Big Tea afternoon tea, which was kindly donated by Ali at Morrisons Littlehampton.

“We had sandwich platters, cupcakes, Victoria sponge cake and a chocolate orange cake that went down a storm with everyone!” the team said.

Here are a few tea stats that NHS Charities Together have compiled:

People in the West Midlands were most likely to save the washing up and reuse the same spoon throughout the day.

For nearly half the South East (44%) reusing the teabag is unacceptable.

The South West were most offended by anyone choosing to put the milk in first, with four in 10 (41%) getting hot and bothered.

Thank you to everyone who took part and for those ‘spilling the tea’ on social media - we loved seeing your celebrations.

As always, our charity is overwhelmed by the kindness and support from the community, and we raise a teacup to NHS staff at Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust and across the nation. Thank you for everything that you do, here’s to you!

With celebrations happening for the rest of the month, there’s still time to host your tea party to support your local NHS. Sign up to host via JustGiving.

To learn more about the work of Sussex Community NHS Charity, and how you can show your support, visit www.sussexcommunity.nhs.uk/charity