Volunteers at the Covid memorial wall are urging ministers to make the monument permanent as Britain marks its first national day of reflection after the pandemic.
The wall runs between Westminster Bridge and Lambeth Bridge on South Bank in London and is looked after by a group of volunteers, who rely on public donations to maintain it.
For Sunday’s day of reflection, volunteers strung heart-shaped lights along the 500-metre stretch of wall on which hand-painted hearts feature, and placed a bouquet of flowers at each of its 25 panels. Those lost to Covid-19 were commemorated by a minute’s silence.
But volunteers have raised concerns that without government recognition, the wall may not become an enduring memorial to the pandemic. Lynn Jones, 71, from Stoke-on-Trent, is a volunteer who lost her husband to Covid and now travels 150 miles every Friday to help maintain the wall.
“There is nobody else acknowledging the pain of Covid,” she told the PA news agency. “Therefore when I come here there are other people who understand.
“People just want to forget it and wash it away. We can never wash it away. We lost our husbands. For us, it is a place of comfort for each other. We just want the government to recognise it, acknowledge it, and protect it so that it is permanent.
“The government has still taken no action. I think they just hope it will fade.”
Lorelai King, 70, from central London, whose husband also died with Covid, said the wall was “here by the grace of 10 volunteers” and emphasised the need to protect the memorial.
The group collects dedications from social media channels and writes them on to hearts for the bereaved.
Fran Hall, 63, a volunteer from Buckinghamshire, praised private companies for supporting the wall with donations, but believes the government should have gone further.
“We are deeply disappointed that this isn’t being publicised properly,” said Hall, whose husband died from Covid. “It has not been announced by the prime minister. It is not being led by leading public figures, like the royal family or high-profile politicians.
“If we did not come every week, there would be no wall.”
This year marks the fourth annual day of reflection, but this is the first to take place on the first Sunday of March – the date recommended by the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration.
The group is also responsible for updating the number of Covid deaths, which is displayed at the Westminster end of the wall and on Sunday read 237,114.
Matthew Reed, the chief executive of Marie Curie, said the end-of-life charity had acted on strong public demand for the creation of a day of reflection. He said: “We thought there was a real need to bring people together so they could express some of the shared experience of grief during the pandemic period, but also the very deeply personal, unique grief. We have found there has been a very strong public need for it.
“There is a deep wound of grief still which is very raw for people who have lost loved ones during the pandemic.”
On the presence of the Covid memorial wall, Reed added: “The wall has served as a very strong visual memorial to people who died during that time. It has been a strong focal point for families.
“The need for this type of space is so important. The volunteers who look after it do an absolutely fantastic job.”
