Guard of honour for treasured NHS colleague during funeral
The memory of an NHS worker has been honoured by her colleagues with a special tribute.
Members of staff, colleagues and friends of Brenda Bailey formed two guards of honour outside of her workplace at Harden Health Centre and at Streetly Crematorium for the 67-year-old's funeral.
For Sallyann Sutton, professional lead at Harden Health Centre in Bloxwich where Brenda worked as an administrative worker before her subsequent battle with lung cancer, it was a fitting tribute to a much-loved woman.
She said: "Not all of us could go to the funeral, so we wanted to make sure that the family could see how much she meant to us by lining the streets in uniform.
"It meant the funeral procession could pass through and allow us all to pay our respects there as, in non-Covid times, we'd all be filling that chapel."
More than 20 members of staff lined the streets outside Harden Health Centre with balloons, with another 15 colleagues including health physicians and community service leads outside the crematorium.
Sallyann said Brenda's husband, Andy, and children, Joanne, Leanne and Neil, had been very moved by the tributes and said there were more plans in place to honour their colleague.
She said: "Brenda was the kindest person who made it her mission to help all and was a big character on our team, making sure everyone did the right thing.
"We plan to lay a stone for Brenda in our garden of memory and we will have a tribute award to her at the end of the year for the staff member who best represents Brenda's personality and character."
