A permanent Covid memorial is being planned for Bethesda Gardens in Stoke-on-Trent to provide a dedicated space for people to honour loved ones who died during the pandemic.

Lynn Jones, from Stoke-on-Trent, lost her 66-year-old husband Gareth in March 2021 during the second wave. He was a former headteacher at Ormiston Meridian Academy and died following admission to the Royal Stoke University Hospital in January 2021.

The memorial is being designed by local artist Philip Hardaker. Funding has been received for the project, which aims to be completed before April next year.

Inspiration from London memorial

Jones is part of a group that helps maintain the National Covid Memorial Wall opposite the Houses of Parliament in London. Hand-painted on it are hundreds of thousands of red hearts, each representing a person who died with Covid on their death certificate. Jones has been travelling to London most Fridays since her husband's death.

"I met people like me, who suffered the same trauma, and it helped me to survive. I needed it," Jones said. "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."

Local need for memorial space

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

Jones said the memorial 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."

Community involvement

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.