Florence Nightingale's bicentenary is celebrated in online play and exhibition

Florence, the driving force behind modern nursing was born in Italy on May 12, 1820. Her parents moved to Derbyshire vwhen she was a baby and the family had a home at Holloway for several years.

A new online play, Florence: Scenes From A Life, features Ellie Ward as Florence Nightingale with music written and performed by Mat Williams, who lives in Belper and a new song, Goodnight, by John Tams, whose songwriting talents featured in War Horse.

The audio drama has been adapted by George Gunby from his play Kissing Miss Nightingale’s Shadow.

George, the writer and producer of Kissing Miss Nightingale’s Shadow, said: “We had performances scheduled throughout Florence's birthday week. When they were cancelled we decided to record a version of the play, Florence: Scenes From A Life, to put online. It's our gesture towards remembering a remarkable human being. Bearing in mind the opening of Nightingale hospitals during the current pandemic, it is appropriate that we remember Florence.”

He was inspired to write the play after reading Cecil Woodham-Smiths biography of Florence Nightingale. “Like most people, all I knew of Florence was 'the Lady With The Lamp',” said George. You could say the scales fell from my eyes when I read the book. I became obsessed with Florence and saw what a complicated, driven person she was. She had to cope with a level of fame virtually unheard of and it was clear that her faith in God sustained her.”

George spent eighteen months’ researching Florence’s life for his creation, Kissing Miss Nightingale’s Shadow which is his eighth performed play.

He said: “I always envisaged Kissing Miss Nightingale's Shadow as a one woman show with music. I didn't need to invent text because Florence says it all in her writings.”

Chesterfield-born Ellie Ward trained as an actress at the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts. Since training, she has moved to London where she has worked as an actress, writer, producer, director and drama teacher.

One half of Ellie George Productions, she is looking forward to writing a primary schools version of Kissing Miss Nightingale's Shadow.

Florence – Scenes From A Life can be found online until August 13. Go to www.florencenightingale200.com

* Derby Museums is making a special collection of content available online to commemorate the bicentenary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.Pickford’s House was due to launch a new exhibition, Florence Nightingale: Health in the Home, but it remains unvisited after closing its doors to the public in March under lockdown restrictions.Staff from Derby Museums have since been busy creating a special collection of content related to the exhibition that will be shared over the coming months, starting today (Tuesday, May 12).

As well as quotes from the Derbyshire icon herself, the museum will be showcasing new video of the Florence Nightingale exhibition along with interviews from curators, asking the public: What do you do to be well?

Poems created by staff from the University Hospital of Derby and Burton (UHDB) NHS Foundation Trust, together with illustrations from artist Emma Lance, will be shown throughout June as part of the museums’ collaborative project with Air Arts and the UHDB NHS Foundation Trust Library.

An audio discussion about the National Portrait Gallery’s painting - The Mission of Mercy, painted by artist Jerry Barrett in 1857 – will also be made available online shortly. Currently on loan to Derby Museums from the National Portrait Gallery, London as part of the COMING HOME project, the painting portrays Florence Nightingale attending wounded soldiers at Scutari, Turkey, during her time there as a nurse during the Crimean War.

Tony Butler, executive director of Derby Museums said: “Florence Nightingale is an inspirational figure of global importance, whose life and work provide a fascinating insight into the origins of our healthcare system today. On this important anniversary we are proud to celebrate one of our best-known local heroines with our communities. Although our museums are not yet open to the public, this specially curated content will enable people to discover more about Florence from home until they can visit the exhibition in person when lockdown restrictions are lifted.”

Florence Nightingale: Health in the Home will run until spring 2021. The online content will be made available via Derby Museums’ social media feeds (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, all: @derbymuseums) and on the museums’ website at: www.derbymuseums.org

*A historic scrapbook focusing on Florence Nightingale’s nursing will be shown online from today (Tuesday, May 12).

The document consists mainly of newspaper cuttings from 1853 – 1854, detailing Florence’s progress in the Crimean War. But there are also poems, musical scores with song lyrics about her, and even a poster advertising a ship called the Florence Nightingale.

Mark Young from Derby's Local Studies and Family History Library, which is making the scrapbook available for public viewing online, said: "A turning point for Florence was when she realised that more soldiers were dying from disease than from their war wounds, and it drove her to find different ways of doing things to save more lives, like designing the Nightingale Ward.”

The scrapbook is complemented by a recorded talk by Sunday Times bestselling author Katharine McMahon, who has a lifelong interest in Florence Nightingale. Katherine said: “This scrapbook is a gem and brings Nightingale, and the extraordinary publicity that followed her expedition to the Crimea, vividly to life. The cuttings and pictures show how she became a cult - in songs, plays and newspapers - but also the tragedy of disease and suffering that the real Florence tackled with unbounded energy and determination.”

To view the scrapbook, go to www.derby.gov.uk/derbyshistory

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