Extraordinary Portraits

The Edwards family has worked for the NHS for almost as long as there has been an NHS.

Grandmother Bea came to the UK as part of the Windrush generation and was employed as a health worker. Her daughter Gerrie has been a matron for 36 years and brought her whole family into the service: Calvin, her husband, retrained as a mental health nurse at the age of 49, and their three daughters all work for the NHS in Nottinghamshire. Rhishana, the oldest, is a senior assistant in recruitment, Brianna is a paediatric critical care nurse, and Samara, the youngest, a student nurse.

To do this family justice Bill Bailey has matched them with Adebanji Alade, the London-born, Nigerian-raised President of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters. No stranger to creating epic works of art, Adebanji is tested to the limit as he strives to capture The Edwards' enduring commitment to caring for people, which is almost as long-standing as the NHS itself.