A year after the first COVID19 death, a day-long commemoration culminating in a 7pm candle-lit minute’s silence.
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What is Covid Memorial Day?
On 5 March 2020, the BBC reported that a 70-year-old woman in the Royal Berkshire Hospital had become the first Briton to die of COVID-19.
Exactly one year and so many deaths on, Covid Memorial Day will be a moment for Britain’s to take a moment to grieve.
Why is it important?
“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak whispers o-er wrought heart and bids it break.” (Shakespeare)
All grief experts agree that it is vital for grief to be witnessed.
If it is not expressed and recognised, grief can turn to anger and depression. Sharing the pain of loss is an important stage in the grieving process and moments of collective grief are particularly powerful.
How can I get involved?
- Send us or post/Tweet a memory, a reading, a poem, a song, a photo a painting. Post your own messages using the #CovidMemorialDay hashtag
- ON THE DAY: Light a candle. Take a pebble to the top of a hill. Walk through the park or sit by the sea. Feel the loss.
- Spread the word. Contact musicians, faith leaders etc to see if they will perform or speak/pre-record or live-streamed
Covid Memorial Day is ENTIRELY non-political.
It is like a saloon in a Western where you take off your gun-belt to come in.
We say: “Whether you’re Piers Morgan or Piers Corbyn we still feel the same need to grieve”.
Covid Memorial Day is not an organisation or campaign. It is an idea born from the recognition that “grief must be witnessed”.
READ ABOUT US HERE: Newsweek, The Sun, Amnesty International, NE Bylines
THE SUN https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/14241492/minute-silence-for-covid-memorial-day-today/
NEWSWEEK (https://www.newsweek.com/global-disaster-memorial-day-covid-1558329)
THE SUN https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13609011/covid-memorial-day-brits-candle-january-1-remember-died/)
AMNESTY INTERNAIONAL https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2021/01/we-must-give-our-sorrow-words/
NE BYLINES https://northeastbylines.co.uk/covid-memorial-day
Recent Media
- ‘Grief must be witnessed’: A time of national mourning for UK COVID-19 victims is overdue
- Covid memorial Day – It Is Time to Give Our Sorrow Words
- LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS Covid Memorial Day – Brits asked to put picture of candle in the window on January 1 to remember those who have died
“The world’s more full of weeping than he can understand” (Yeats)
— CovidMemorialDay (@CovidMemoryDay) December 31, 2020
There is a lot of grief at the moment
Grief is important
It’s the flip side of love
The more you deeply you love, the more deeply you must grieve#CovidMemorialDay - 1st Jan - will give space express our loss. pic.twitter.com/S5usLsY2fh
@CovidMemoryDay
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