Falkirk woman celebrates 75 years volunteering with the Red Cross

Isabel Thom, 86, has been a Red Cross volunteer for 75 years. (Pic: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert)

A British Red Cross volunteer from Falkirk has celebrated 75 years with the organisation after joining in the same year the National Health Service was formed.

It was on May 11, 1948, when Isabel Thom’s connection with the British Red Cross began. Little did she know, 75 years later it would remain as strong as ever.

Isabel’s volunteering career has spanned different continents, with her expertise and compassion benefitting thousands of people over the years.

First joining as a youth member in Falkirk at age ten, Isabel, now 86, remains an active voice for the British Red Cross in Scotland.

Some of Isabel Thom's mementos from over the last 75 years volunteering with the Red Cross. (Pic: Jeremy Sutton-Hibbert)

Isabel said: “Joining the British Red Cross had come about almost accidentally. We had spent the war years in Glasgow, where my father had worked in the Cowlairs Railway Works.

“I started primary school there but when my grandmother died and my grandfather wasn’t coping, we came back to Falkirk.

“It just so happened that the leader of the British Red Cross Link and Cadet Units in Falkirk was a Miss Elizabeth Fordyce, who was a great character and very well known in the community. It was really de rigeur for the young girls in her Primary 5 class to join her Link and Cadet Units.

“I came to learn quite quickly, however, what the Red Cross was all about. ”

After her beginnings in Link 333 of the British Red Cross, Isabel joined Cadet Unit 88, before moving on to Voluntary Aid Detachments (VADs), achieving her first aid and nursing certificates.

After qualifying as a teacher, she was accepted as a British Red Cross Cadet Officer and set up a new Cadet Unit in the organisation’s Falkirk Headquarters.

In 1966, Isabel moved with her husband, John, to Bermuda, where she continued her volunteering work for the Red Cross – although an administration error could have altered the date of her anniversary.

Isabel explained: “They hadn’t recorded all of my membership in Bermuda, so when I came back to the UK I was missing three years of volunteering and had to claim that back.

“It was proved due to the fact I had attended committee meetings and the Field Officer for the West Indies and Bermuda had given a talk to the school on what the Red Cross did.

“Her name was Nancy Gibson and she reported back to London that yes, I had set up a Cadet Unit in 1967 in Bermuda. So if it wasn’t for that, I could have been celebrating the 72nd anniversary this year!”

After eight years in Bermuda she returned to Scotland, first living in Kincardine, and taking up the role of Assistant Branch Director (Youth) before moving to Oman for four years in 1979. She returned to Edinburgh in 1984.

Isabel was appointed to a staff position with BRC in 1993, taking on the roles of Education Officer and then Recruitment and Training Manager (Volunteers) until her retirement in 2002.

In the years since, she has continued to be a committed volunteer and supporter of the British Red Cross, helping with fundraising as well as giving talks to local groups and schools in Scotland about the work the organisation carries out both locally and further afield.

Isabel celebrates her years of work with the British Red Cross in the same year as the NHS marks 75 years in operation. She has been awarded Voluntary Medical Service medals her time with the organisation, as well as a Badge of Honour for Devoted Service.

In her early days with the British Red Cross, Isabel was involved in sessions at Falkirk’s Royal Infirmary and later carried out training in the First Aid Centre within the grounds of Erskine Hospital.

Isabel added: “Every Sunday morning, as a 16-year-old, I would go up to Falkirk Royal Infirmary. You had to do a certain number of hours to validate your nursing certificates with the Red Cross.

“At that point I was doing highers and university applications, but you still weren’t sure which career you were going into – although for women in those days it was a bit limited. You were really expected to go into teaching or the medical profession. It has always been quite an important relationship between the Red Cross and the NHS.”

Rob Murray, Director for Scotland, British Red Cross, said: “Isabel’s story is inspirational and demonstrates the very best of the British Red Cross. To have given 75 years to the organisation, both as a volunteer and staff member, is incredible and I congratulate her on the milestone anniversary. On behalf of the British Red Cross, I’d like to sincerely thank Isabel for her hard work and dedication.”