Captain Sir Tom Moore's daughter tells ITV News 'he leaves us with a powerful message - tomorrow is a good day'

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Rebecca Barry


Captain Sir Tom Moore's eldest daughter has told ITV News how her father has left the world with "a really strong powerful message" and spoken about her pain at not being able to see her father in person during the pandemic, even in his final days.

Captain Tom became a national hero after he raised almost £33 million for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden during the first lockdown.

The country and indeed the world paid tribute after he died on Tuesday having contracted Covid.

His daughter Lucy Teixeira told ITV News: "He leaves us with a really strong powerful message - tomorrow is a good day. Those words represent his whole life to me.

Lucy Teixeira with her father Captain Tom on her wedding day Credit: Lucy Teixeira

"He has shown resilience, courage, and I have seen him do that all his life. And his grandchildren have seen him through the adversities in his life and that has made a huge difference to who they are."

Describing the last few hours she spent with her father, she said: "When we knew that his life was coming to and end.

"My sister and I liaised and I was able to see him in his last hours and I am very grateful for that. 

"He was Covid-19 positive so I didn't attend so I saw him through Facetime.

"We told him funny stories, I showed him some photos. My sister played him video messages from my sons which he acknowledged.

"It was a really special time. He was able to nod."

Speaking about her childhood with her father, she said: "You think that when I was born and Hannah was born, he had already done half his life.

"So as a young girl, he had such amazing energy and he didn't feel like an old parent.

"It was amazing, we did so many things. He was always such a positive element.

"I knew how to fix a car, I knew how to clean windows and paint things. He taught us how to be really practical."

She also recalled her most cherished moment with him: "When I got married, he was there.

"He was a steadying hand and that was 25 years ago. He was so important to me and that was a moment I will always cherish. 

"I remember very clearly that in the wedding car, and I was feeling very jittery, I said: 'Daddy, please tell me something really boring'.

"So he did and he kept me calm and I think he told me a story about concrete pipes, something really boring about concrete pipes and it was really good, it was really good.

"It was a great day, and I was so glad that both my parents were there for that."

Ms Teixeira said she and her sister Hannah Ingram-Moore are planning a quiet send off for their father to celebrate his life.