Covid memorial will help people 'grieve and heal'

A widow has said plans for a permanent Covid memorial in her home city will help others who lost loved ones "grieve and heal".

Lynn Jones, from Stoke-on-Trent, lost her 66-year-old husband Gareth during the second wave of the pandemic in 2021.

The proposed tribute in Bethesda Gardens, which is being designed by local artist Philip Hardaker, is intended to provide a dedicated place to honour the dead and help people to remember them.

Funding has been received for the project, which is aiming to be complete before next April, said Jones.

Jones is one of a group of people who help maintain the 500m National Covid Memorial Wall opposite the Houses of Parliament in London.

Hand-painted on it are hundreds of thousands of red hearts, each representing and paying tribute to a person who died with Covid on their death certificate.

The widow's involvement with looking after the wall inspired her to create a tribute closer to home.

Her husband, a former headteacher at Ormiston Meridian Academy, was admitted to the Royal Stoke University Hospital in January 2021 and died in March.

Jones has been travelling to London most Fridays ever since.

She told the BBC: "I met people like me, who suffered the same trauma, and it helped me to survive. I needed it.

"But then I thought about all the people in Stoke-on-Trent who can't go to London. I just felt it was a motivation to have somewhere local where people could grieve together because it was such a traumatic period."

It is thought more than 1,000 people from Stoke-on-Trent died from Covid from early 2020 onwards.

Stoke-on-Trent Central MP Gareth Snell has been speaking to bereaved families to help shape the plans for a local tribute.

He said: "This memorial is about ensuring those we lost are never forgotten and creating a peaceful space where people can reflect, remember and connect."

The MP is asking residents whose loved ones died to contribute their stories and ideas as the project progresses.

Speaking about local families who could benefit from the memorial, Jones said: "It will help bring people together.

"You can see the need for it as soon as you have a meeting. They will meet others who have suffered such intense pain and loss, in the most traumatic of circumstances, which will help them to grieve and to heal."

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