Students from Edinburgh Napier University will play a key role in a commemoration service for Florence Nightingale at Westminster Abbey.
The university’s students have been chosen to fulfil the central ceremonial task of ‘escorting the lamp’ at the prestigious event.
The annual service reflects on the life and legacy to healthcare of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, who is celebrated for her role in organising the treatment of wounded soldiers during the Crimean War.
The public service, on Wednesday May 17 at 6.30pm, honours nurses who died in the service of others, and celebrates and gives thanks for the nursing and midwifery professions.
During the service, a lamp – symbolising Florence Nightingale, ‘The Lady with the Lamp’ – will be taken from the Florence Nightingale Chapel and escorted by a procession of nurses to the altar.
Twenty-six students and seven members of staff from Edinburgh Napier’s School of Health & Social Care will travel to London to take part in the ceremony.
A spokesman for Edinburgh Napier said: “This is a very prestigious event and it is a great honour for the school and the university that we have been chosen to provide students for the lamp procession. We believe we are the first university in Scotland to be asked to take part in the service.”
The Florence Nightingale Foundation also host an annual students’ day, attended by students from all over the world, on the day of the service.
