The sun was shining yesterday in Sheffield as residents held a “poignant” memorial event remembering those who died during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Held in the city’s Balm Green Gardens, the inaugural event was an opportunity “to remember those that we lost, the pain and the sadness, but also the moments of unity, strength and compassion” said council leader Tom Hunt.
“Covid and the pandemic held up a mirror to society and exposed where people were isolated and vulnerable,” he said. “They exposed the cracks in our social and economic systems that allow some people to fall through, and it exposed the inequalities.”
Preceded by a minute’s silence, the event heard from civic and community leaders as well as the relatives and friends of those who died.
Craig Allsop, who lost his mother Susan to Covid in February 2021, spoke about “how life has never been quite the same” since her death.
“For many the suffering is not over,” he said. “They live with loss, ongoing illness and mental health issues. Take a moment to think of those people.”
Just over 2,000 people died from Covid-19 in Sheffield between January 2021 and December 2023.
Allsop had to say goodbye to his mother via video call after she was hospitalised in January 2021. He was instrumental in pushing for the Covid memorial willow tree sculpture, which now stands as a reminder of “what we have lost”.
“It should remind us of what is important: kindness, forgiveness and to be thankful for what we still have,” he added. “We know all too well that life is fragile and that anything can happen.”
Assistant Director of Public Health for Sheffield, Eleanor Rutter, who also gave a speech, spoke to The Sheffield Wire after the event.
She said: “It’s really lovely seeing people come together to reflect. My experience of the pandemic was a massively privileged one. But of course, my perspective on the pandemic was one of enormous inequalities, and it was just awful.”
Around 19% of Sheffield’s population are from black or minority ethnic groups. David Bussue, chief executive of community health and social care organisation SACMHA, said “we can’t think of the COVID 19 pandemic without the murder of George Floyd springing to our minds”.
“As a person of colour I very well remember the slow dawning on my family and I that there are lots of people who look like us on the news who had lost their lives to Covid,” he said.
Attendees of the memorial were invited to write a message on a paper leaf, which will be added to the city’s archive “so that there’s a permanent memorial of the stories of the pandemic”, added Cllr Hunt.
Designed by architect George King, Sheffield’s stainless steel willow tree sculpture was added to the gardens in March 2023.
