The smell of smoke from the pyrotechnics. Rapturous applause. Crowds that stretched so far back, you couldn’t see everyone from the stage. As the lights went down, one of the singers cried into the microphone: “Thank you Glastonbury, you’ve been amazing!”

Back in the Pfizer Chiefs’ trailer, after the biggest show of their lives, a phone rings.

“We knew we’d just given our best ever performance, but little did we know what was coming next,” said Alan Wishart, guitarist and band manager.

As he answered the phone, his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. The call was from Kathryn Halford, Chief Nurse at BHRUT and organiser of our NHS 75 events. She gave them the news they’d all been dreaming of. They were about to embark on the most important tour of their lives.

Three weeks later, the Pfizer Chiefs arrived ready to perform at our NHS 75 staff brunch at King George Hospital in Ilford. It’s a place they know well – every member of the band works at our Trust – but suddenly it feels very different.

They swapped their work uniforms for matching Pfizer Chiefs polos, and they had a set of jazzy shirts being pressed and dry cleaned ahead of their headline set at the staff party at Queen’s Hospital that evening.

But who are the Pfizer Chiefs and how did they reach the pinnacle of the musical world?

Formed in 2022 for our staff Thank You weekend, the band originally consisted of Alan; Taz Milbank, lead singer and Senior Programme Manager/nurse; Adam Souris, guitarist and Associate Director Workforce; Warren Stafford, bass player and Erostering Systems Facilitator; Kim Smith, drummer and PA; and Matthew Trainer, keyboard player and Chief Executive Officer.

Warren describes the band as “a group of talented individuals that can come together, have fun and produce something great … but can also get on each other’s nerves sometimes!”

Despite the different levels of seniority in the band, Kim says there’s no hierarchy.

“There’s no ‘he’s a director’ and ‘he’s this’, we’re all just people in a band that enjoy playing music together,” she says.

Their 2022 Thank You weekend performance lives long in the memory of those who were there. Covering songs by artists including Abba, Neil Diamond and Kings of Leon, one of the highlights was a duet by Matthew and Alan, proud Scots, who sang I Wanna Be (500 miles) by The Proclaimers.

Another standout feature was Car Park Karaoke, playing on the location of the tent in the old ice rink car park, in which staff could sign up to join the band on stage to sing a song of their choice.

“We had all kinds of offers coming in after that gig,” said Alan. “Festivals, celebrity weddings, even the Super Bowl half time show!

“But we got together to entertain our colleagues, that’s all that mattered to us.”

So the band returned to their day jobs in our hospitals. And when they heard we were holding a staff party for NHS 75, anticipation of a comeback began to build. They even recruited a new member, singer Vicky Lumley who works in our HR team.

But initially there was disappointment. The party’s organisers were sceptical of having the same headliner two years in a row.

Alan said: “We realised we needed to show them what they were missing and that’s when we decided to do the gig at Glastonbury.”

Admittedly it was a field adjacent to the festival rather than the main site itself. And the crowds facing the Pyramid Stage didn’t even spot the seven people in the distance who were being moved on by security for their unsolicited performance.

But when Kathryn Halford saw how much performing at NHS 75 meant to the band (and with no other acts forthcoming) she made the call they’d been waiting for.

The band rocked the marquee again and car park karaoke made a very successful return.

What next for the Pfizer Chiefs?

Different rumours are flying around about the future of the band.

Some claim they’ve agreed to go their separate ways, having ended on a high, while others are predicting a world tour that extends beyond the old laundry building at King George Hospital and the ice rink car park at Queen’s.

Some of those who believe the rumours of a split are inconsolable.

“I haven’t felt like this since One Direction split up,” said Peter Hunt, Director of Communications and Engagement. “The Pfizer Chiefs were exciting, they changed the landscape of pop music, taking it in a direction never seen before.

“But most importantly, they’ve left a lasting impact on our Trust and our staff. In years to come, people will say ‘I was there when the Pfizer Chiefs rocked our NHS 75 party and it was the greatest night of my life’.”

While it’s not entirely clear what will happen next, one member of the band definitely has a desire to keep on performing.

“Alan has been roaming the corridors looking for more gigs,” said a source who asked to remain anonymous. “If he finds out that a colleague is getting married or has a birthday party coming up, he hunts them down and asks if they need a band.

“He says it like it’s a joke but I do think he misses the thrill of being on stage.”

For now though, our seven rockstars are back at work playing their part in the care our Trust provides to its patients.

Vicky said: “For me, the definition of the Pfizer Chiefs, it's like an analogy of the NHS. It's a whole different group of people coming together with different skills from different backgrounds.

“But none of that matters, because when you bring us all together, we make something really good.”