NHS Hero nominee – Laura Boyles
NHS Hero nominee – Laura Boyles
Laura Boyles works full-time as a midwife, is a mum-of-two and still finds time to run Basford Cub Scouts and be Assistant District Commissioner of the Cub Movement for Newcastle-under-Lyme.
The 44-year-old, who qualified as a midwife in 2014 after deciding to switch from a career in the insurance industry, is also Deputy Ward manager of Ward 205 at the Royal Stoke University Hospital.
Laura, from Bignall End, has been nominated as an HNS Hero in the Your Heroes Awards by her friend and former colleague Janice Lowe.
Janice said: “Laura is a full-time midwife at the Royal Stoke. She also runs Basford Cub scouts, helps with beavers and scouts when needed and has for many years.
“She is an integral part of weekend camping trips, freely giving her spare time as well as organising civic events involving the Newcastle Scouting movement.
“She is a friend and mentor to so many. She never complains about her workload, is always the first to offer help and, if proof is needed, I could get a list of dozens if not hundreds of children, young adults and colleagues who have benefitted from her presence over the years and really do consider her to be their hero.
“She deserves the recognition that she never seeks. I don’t know how she manages to cram so much into her life and I am proud to call her my hero and friend.”
Laura has been involved with the Scouting Movement for more than 20 years after seeing a call for volunteers to help with a cubs group in Basford.
In time she became the assistant leader and then the leader before taking on an additional role as Assistant District Commissioner.
“I’d always wanted to be a midwife and made the decision to do it when I was 30,” she said. “I went back to college to do an access course then got onto a degree course at Keele University.
“It’s an incredible job. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done but also the most rewarding.
“At one point I was juggling my degree, a part-time job, being a mum to my two children and the cubs role. There are 24 hours in a day so why not fill them.”
Laura is a mentor for new midwives and in 2021 was named Mentor of the Year by the Royal Stoke University Hospital and Keele University.
She said she is shocked but delighted to now be nominated for a Your Heroes Award.
“I can’t believe it. I’m absolutely in shock. I do what I do because Scouting is an important thing for young people and imparts valuable life skills.”