To honour the fifth anniversary of the pandemic, a COVID-19 memorial event is being held in Sheffield city centre this Sunday.
Led by Compassionate Sheffield and Sheffield City Council, people across the city are invited to come together to reflect on the pandemic, on the COVID-19 National Day of Reflection.
Nick Deayton, 37, Programme Director of Compassionate Sheffield said: “COVID was one of the most unprecedented periods of recent history and during that time there was a lot of loss and people are still feeling that loss.
“But there were also lots of positive acts of kindness and collectivism that people really attached to, and it would be a shame to ignore those people who are still experiencing loss, but also to ignore some of the positive stuff that happened during that time as well.”
During the memorial there will be a series of speeches, from Lead Councillor Tom Hunt, local community leaders and a Muslim chaplain who worked at a hospice.
The final speech will be a recording from someone who is still living with long COVID, which will be followed by a minute’s silence.
Mr Deayton said: “I hope people attend it for all different reasons.”
“I hope some people attend it because they did have loved ones that they lost during the pandemic and they want to memorialize them, using that day as a space to remember their relatives.”
The event will also involve a screening of the documentary ‘Stories from the Pandemic’, at the Showroom Cinema, showcasing real life memories.
There will also be a creative workshop for people to write tributes or share their experiences.
All activities are free to attend and are open to all members of the public.
The speeches and creative workshop will be held at the city’s COVID memorial, a steel willow tree monument next to the City Hall at Balm Green Gardens.
Mr Deayton said: “Each branch of the Willow tree has inscribed segments of people’s stories.
“The idea of the Willow tree design is that each individual branch moves independently, but it gets its strength from its core, and the branches come together at the core in the five dominant languages in Sheffield.”
Compassionate Sheffield is a community led programme that aims to improve people’s experiences with death, loss and grief, and they hold different activities, workshops and discussion groups throughout the year.