The 8-foot high Portland stone wall, which is located on the south side of River Thames and directly opposite Houses of Parliament, can be a very sad experience for people who have lost loved ones.
The official death toll for the world is approaching 5 million. Britain has officially recorded 140,000 coronavirus-related fatalities, which is the second highest in Europe after Russia. It is likely that the actual number is higher, around 160,000, as very little testing was done in the U.K. during the initial stages of the pandemic.
The National COVID Memorial Wall is located on the Albert Embankment and covers a half-kilometer. Each life lost is represented by a meticulously painted heart, which volunteers refresh weekly with long-lasting masonry paints.
You can also enjoy a slice of cake or a cup coffee.
It’s almost like art therapy for volunteers — it’s meditative.
Fran Hall, spokesperson for COVID-19 Bereaved Families for Justice, said that “it has absolutely fulfilled the original intent which was to remind everyone of the scale of their loss.” She had lost her husband Steve Mead for three weeks in September 2020, one day before his birthday.
Hall, along with others, makes the weekly trek to make sure the hearts don’t turn to pink from the luscious red. He also adds inscriptions to those who have lost loved ones and can’t make it to the wall.
Hall stated, “We’re getting the red back on the wall to keep it vibrant.” “You’ll be able to see thousands or even thousands of names as you walk by, so the hearts are personalized. They are all unique.”
COVID-19 Bereaved Familys for Justice and Led By Donkeys created the memorial in March to show the extent of the loss during the pandemic. Amazingly, it took the army of volunteers less than two weeks to paint the 150,000 hearts.
Although the government has not yet given the wall official status by law, Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently told grieving families, including Hall, that it was a “good candidate to be a permanent monument.”
Amanda Herring, who lost Mark Herring, her 54-year-old brother, just before the U.K. was placed into lockdown in March 2020, said that “this memorial means so much for the bereaved because a lot of us couldn’t have our last goodbyes.”
She said, “It needs to be a permanent monument for our loved ones. It does mean so much. This is why I come down and help the fellow bereaved who are now my close friends to help re-fresh the hearts and add new inscriptions… which is in a way so heartbreaking.”
COVID-19 Bereaved Familys for Justice has approximately 4,000 members and has called for a public inquiry into how the government handled the pandemic to learn lessons that can be used to prevent future deaths.
It has criticised Johnson and his Conservative government for their mismanagement of the pandemic. This included delaying lockdowns and a lack of protective gear to health workers. Also, it said Johnson’s travel policy was too lax, which led to tens of thousands of deaths. The coronavirus pandemic has been declared “one of the greatest public health failures that the United Kingdom has ever seen.”
Johnson confirmed after months of deflecting calls that a public inquiry will begin next year to hear evidence and that the bereaved family will play a part in it. The bereaved family thinks it’s too late, and they watch horror at the U.K.’s increasing infection rates, which are several-fold higher than those in France and Germany. Although the U.K. has seen a decrease in the number of COVID-related deaths due to infection, it still records around 150 cases per day. This leaves thousands of families grieving each week.
Sioux Vosper, who recently lost her 80-year old father John David Leigh, said that she feels nobody is listening to them and that sharing our stories will help other people take more care.
She said, “It’s only a nine-minute walk to one end and everyone who comes here, they can’t help but think all the numbers they saw on television were just numbers. They come here and they’re beating hearts, and they can’t shy away from that.”
