Captain Sir Tom Moore

'Where he walked, the nation followed'

This statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, summarises the many tributes posted since the death was announced of Captain Sir Tom Moore.

There have been many obituaries published over the last few days detailing his life and times, but what has been most inspiring was the positivity he displayed. At the end of his first interview after raising £9,000 pounds, smashing his £1,000 pound target to say thank you to the NHS for the treatment he had received, he said 'Remember, tomorrow is a good day; tomorrow you will maybe find everything will be much better than today'.

This positive message from an almost centurion who had shuffled 10 laps of his garden for 10 days before his 100th birthday, inspired countless others to follow his lead. As we now know, by the time of his birthday, his activities had directly generated £39m of donations for NHS Charities Together and encouraged many others to set achievable, perhaps low-key, targets for fund raising, each faced with good humour and modesty. An overall £150m has so far been collected for the fund as part of its Covid-19 Urgent Appeal. The focus of Charities Together is the comfort and wellbeing of staff and patients – things that, in the words of one NHS worker, "make their working lives easier". Ellie Orton, the charity's chief executive, said the donations helped staff "focus on their life saving work at a time of immense pressure".

His positive views in a dark time have inspired people of all ages. Thank you Sir Tom.