As far as the eye can see.
Each heart representing a person dead with
#COVID19
on their death certificate.
205,843 reasons why
@BorisJohnson
should never be allowed near any position of power ever again.
“Let the bodies pile high”
"I am here to commemorate my colleague, Dr Anton Sebastianpillai, who was one of the first Drs to die in the UK.
He left retirement to work in Kingston Hospital, where he later died.
I came to see the wall and to think about Anton on the anniversary of his death"
Paul Diggory
So it appears
@covidinquiryuk
is a) not minded to let our legal team question witnesses, and b) disinclined to hear our stories other than as amalgamated themes filtered via a PR company.
What happened to the promise that bereaved families would be at the heart of the inquiry?
Whoever is trying to block the
@covidinquiryuk
from seeing
@BorisJohnson
's messages & diaries should spend some time looking at our online tribute site.
These are the faces that should haunt you.
These are the people who matter.
A beautiful, well-attended day at the memorial wall, commemorating the third anniversary of the first heart being painted there. We will never forget our beloved lost.
#MakeTheWallPermanent
#WalkTheWall
❤️
At the very end of the 6th day of painting hearts at the
#CovidMemorialUK
two hearts are added by London Ambulance crew to remember the paramedic colleagues they lost. ❤️
Bereaved families from
@CovidJusticeUK
stood outside the hotel, holding candles and photographs of their dead loved ones.
The Tory MPs heading for their lavish supper with
@BorisJohnson
couldn’t even look at us, let alone stop and acknowledge the horror of our loss.
The more I think about the PM hosting a Westminster party for MPs on the anniversary of the Covid memorial and in the face of the 20
#Partygate
fines for breaking the law at No 10, the more I realise the Tories are laughing at us all. They must think we’re stupid.
We have this morning written to Prime Minister
@BorisJohnson
asking him to visit the National Covid Memorial Wall.
We hope he will meet with some of the bereaved who have painted over 150,000 hearts on the memorial wall and take the time to
#WalkTheWall
.
The volunteers are at the wall today for the
#DayOfReflection
- we've lit up the half-kilometre of wall with heart-shaped lights to honour our covid dead. ❤️
The Friends of the Wall were busy yesterday installing hooks for the lights that will light up the wall on 3rd March, the new date of Covid Remembrance, as outlined in the Commission's recommendations for the National Day of Reflection.
#PreserveTheWall
#MakeTheWallPermanent
❤️
"We both work for the NHS. We came here to pay our respects to our lost colleagues.
The profound loss of life represented here is shocking - but we are finding helping cathartic."
Sarah Ryan and Mark Chambers
#CovidMemorialUK
Today we updated the number of covid deaths in the UK. We believe we are the only public space still to do so. ❤️
Alt: video shows volunteers changing the numbers on the memorial wall banner to 228,890
So today, we turned our backs on the sordid goings on across the river and created a new section of the wall - dedicated to the 132 babies, children and young people who have so far died from covid.
Shame on every one of you who have let this happen.
The volunteers will be taking down the 500m of heart shaped fairy lights at
#TheNationalCovidMemorialWall
on Friday.
They were placed to mark last Sunday’s
#NationalDayOfReflection
with the minute’s silence for our lost loved ones.
We thought you might like to see them ❤️💔
One of our volunteers has sacrificed her bathtub for the sake of the beautiful flowers we're having at our anniversary event tomorrow, 12.00-4.00 at the wall. ❤️🥀
It made us so happy to see that the council has cleaned the leaves from the gutter that runs the length of our wall - it will make painting hearts and doing dedications for our loved ones that bit easier... ❤️
The future of our beautiful wall is not yet secure, despite the Commission on Covid Commemoration recommending it be preserved.
We’re gathering reasons why people believe it must be made permanent - please add yours in comments or email us at covidmemorialwall
@gmail
.com
❤️
This was at the end of a beautiful day of shared reflection and remembrance, honouring the 186,094 people who have died.
These dignified bereaved people stood, completely ignored by the Tory MPs who streamed past them or went in by another door to avoid them.
Utmost respect.
Last night, Conservative MPs couldn't even look bereaved families in the eye as they held yet another party on the day of the first partygate fines and anniversary of the National Memorial Wall.
@BorisJohnson
, went in via a back exit to avoid us.
A part of being at the wall that none of us enjoy - updating the number on panel 26 that damns every single person who has claimed that children aren’t at risk from covid.
@FiveTimesAugust
Bereaved volunteer responsible for the wall here.
We’re there every Friday. Do come and talk to us.
We’d be very happy to help you understand why your opinions (from Texas) are so offensive - to those of us who painted the hearts, and to every other Covid bereaved person.
It’s the night before the anniversary of the creation of the
#NationalCovidMemorialWall
in 2021, & the volunteers have spent weeks getting ready to commemorate this special day tomorrow with photos, a ceremony & two walks of the wall.
All positive vibes for no rain v welcome!
The volunteers were working hard at the wall today, putting up hooks for the 1700 photos of our lost loved ones that will be displayed on the
#CovidMemorialWall
on March 29th, its second anniversary. We hope to see you there!
#WalkTheWall
#CovidMemorial
❤️❤️❤️
Another amazingly generous company has offered to help us with the care of the wall - a huge thank you to
@Sharpie
who are sending us a supply of their black pens so we can add dedications to the 160,824 people who have died in the UK with covid-19 on their death certificates
One of the loveliest things about the amazing volunteers who look after the wall is that none of them do this for thanks or recognition.
They’re happier with their backs to the camera working, but last week we managed a rare photo all together ❤️
#teamworkmakesthedreamwork
Powerful, powerful banner taken to the
@covidinquiryuk
today (for the second day of evidence from the disgraced former prime minister) thanks to generous permission from the artist,
@guardian
cartoonist
@BJennings90
Thank you Ben!
On behalf of all the bereaved families who have a heart on the wall, a huge thank you to
@LoveWilko
for their generous donation of 2,000 battery tea-light candles.
These will be used to light the wall on 29th March, one year on from the first heart being painted.
Just a reminder that
#CovidIsNotOver
Tomorrow, the
@ONS
will release the latest figure of people who have died with covid as a cause of death on their death certificates.
On Friday, the volunteers at the wall will update the numbers on our banner.
As we do every week.
💔
In addition to painting hearts, writing dedications, and campaigning to
#MakeTheWallPermanent
, the volunteers take time and care in restoring hearts that have faded. ❤️
#PreserveTheWall
Unfortunately, we weren’t permitted to hold the banner (displaying the official number of people dead with
#COVID19
as a cause of death on their death certificates) where
@MattHancock
would see it as he left.
Deeply disappointed to hear
@Matthew_Wright
in the studio
@LBC
state breezily that he has Covid but ‘it’s not so bad this time round’.
Hundreds of people are still dying every week from Covid.
More than quarter of a million are dead.
Minimising it is beyond irresponsible.
It was freezing on Albert Embankment today but that didn’t stop the loyal team of volunteers spending the day repainting hearts on the wall.
Thanks to everyone who braved the cold.
We will be hosting a memorial event on March 3 (the National Day of Reflection supported by government). We will be at the wall from 11.00-1.00 to honour and remember the hundreds of thousands of people who have died from covid in the UK so far. ❤��
#MakeTheWallPermanent
Thank you
@RuthDavidsonMSP
for stopping to talk with organisers of the National Covid Memorial Wall and taking the time to read some of the thousands of messages left to lost loved ones.
A message to Conservative MPs. If you have one shred of compassion for all those families who sacrificed so much, who lost so much, you’ll put a letter in, and be done with him (Location: Parliament)
On Wednesday 29th, it will be two years since the first heart was painted on a 500m wall in central London.
Now more than 220,000 hearts are on the
#NationalCovidMemorialWall
,
one for each UK life lost to Covid-19.
Join us at 3pm for a ceremony, or at 8pm for a candlelit walk.
This letter should be on the front page of every newspaper tomorrow morning.
Thank you Hannah for articulating so powerfully the pain, anguish and anger so many bereaved families are feeling.
We have today written to
@10DowningStreet
regarding
@BorisJohnson
response to the news of the events of 20 May 2020.
A full copy of our letter is below.
Sorting through the thousands of photos displayed at
#TheNationalCovidMemorialWall
last week just reminds the volunteers once again of the immensity of our loss 💔
As we head into the most difficult time of the year for many who are bereaved by covid, some of the women of the wall were asked about facing another Christmas without the person they lost by
@DailyMirror
💔
@LoreleiKing
@KSBR64
@FranFD1
Today we had some wonderful news - the generous people at
@Valspar
have offered to supply us with free paint to restore the hearts on the National Covid Memorial Wall.
On behalf of everyone who has a name in a heart on the wall, thank you so much! ❤️
This week, the rising number of people who have died with Covid-19 given as a cause of death on their death certificates meant we had to change the last five digits on the banner.
213 more devastated families.
In 7 days.
‘The real work of holding the government to account and making memories takes place every Friday at the wall and the other places where people come together to spontaneously mourn and remember absent loved ones.’
Fabulous article by
@honigsbaum
The third group of fabulous young people to help painting hearts on the wall came on a bitterly cold day today - thank you all so much pupils from Lilian Baylis School!
A beautiful sunny day at the wall for a change, and we had two generations working with us today, as one of the volunteers brought along her daughter.
Us oldies watched in admiration as Hollie deftly painted hearts right at the foot of the
#NationalCovidMemorialWall
!!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️
The volunteers are proud to be maintaining the
#CovidMemorialWall
, a precious tribute to our beloved dead. Its half a kilometre of painted red hearts, one for every person in the UK who died from
#covid
, is clearly visible from Westminster Bridge - and
#Parliament
. ❤️❤️❤️
"We must never forget all the people who died of Covid, they should never ever be forgotten. We must remember them every single year"
@SkyNews
spoke to some of those who lost loved ones and helped create the National Covid Memorial Wall.
Jenny Harries (Former Deputy CMO) is only going to be on the stand for an hour? The
@covidinquiryuk
chose the timetable and it was suggested to them again and again that there was simply not enough time allowed for this important module. Evidence feels rushed.
#CovidInquiry
At our Good Friday anniversary event, we will be placing a bouquet of red tulips at each panel during our Walk of Memories (2.00-3.00), and casting the red carnations, in memory of our loved ones, into the Thames afterwards.
#WalkTheWall
#MakeTheWallPermanent
"This wasn't a social occasion, it was staff having a drink after meetings"
Deputy PM Dominic Raab on BBC Breakfast this morning.
Just leaving this here.
#DowningStreetParties
In spite of the train strike, one of our volunteers made it to the wall this week. This kind of graffiti is what we face every week. This is on the children's section. Appalling. 💔
At the end of the day, we were again asked to move back by
@covidinquiryuk
staff standing in front of us and lining the exit for Mr. Hancock.
This time we refused.
A long day at the
#CovidInquiry
. When Matt Hancock left, there was a whole line of inquiry employees in front of us. He doesn't need protecting from us, a group of bereaved women. Our loved ones needed protecting from him.
At the wall, we continue to update the tally of the
#CovidDead
. ❤️
Alt: video shows volunteers at the wall changing the number of covid dead on a banner to 226,989 (up from 226,196).
On
#ReclaimSocialDay
, a day to counteract negativity on social media platforms, we'd like to thank everyone who supports and promotes our beautiful wall and our campaign to
#MakeTheWallPermanent
and
#PreserveTheWall
. We are so grateful. ❤️
As we come to the end of another difficult year for so many, we wish you all peace and love for 2023.
We will never let our loved ones be forgotten.
From all the volunteers who look after the
#NationalCovidMemorialWall
❤️
At the wall, we continue to update the tally of the
#CovidDead
. ❤️
Alt: video shows volunteers at the wall changing the number of covid dead on a banner to 227,871.
We were so touched that a photo of our beautiful wall was on display at the opening of the Module 2C hearings of the
#CovidInquiry
in Belfast. As
@Petalb34669133
(pictured) said: "It felt like you were all with us". Our thoughts are with the bereaved families of NI. ❤️
"I've been drawing hearts since last Monday.
I have a heart for my dad, John, and have also drawn hearts for the loved ones of the people in my Covid-19 bereaved choir.
It's a pleasure to fill in hearts for people who are not local"
Sioux Vosper
It was utterly outrageous and quite shocking. Five bereaved women with a banner and photographs of our dead loved ones are apparently a huge threat of some kind.
And then, a group of (mostly male) protestors (with a loudspeaker) were allowed to protest right there at lunchtime.
Yet again the bereaved are marginalised at the
@covidinquiryuk
- we can no longer queue in our usual place,but have been pushed back to the pavement.
#CovidInquiry
The volunteers had all the weather today - most of it wet! - as they continue writing dedications and preparing for the UK Covid Memorial wall anniversary event on March 29. ❤❤❤
Before next Tuesday’s poignant anniversary of the first heart being painted on the wall, today the volunteers had some brilliant help from students from
@ossmastoke
Look at the difference they made! (before and after pics below)
Thank you all ❤️
Unbelievable.
Despite being asked when he was health sec,
@matthancock
never visited the Covid Memorial Wall and refused to meet bereaved families on multiple occasions.
He's managed to find his way there to launch a video for Rishi Sunak, though, who was fined for Partygate.
Today the Friends of the Wall received a most wonderful, generous gift from the lovely Ann Holland, who came down from Sheffield to present us with £1,000!
Ann raised the money at an event in memory of her husband Barry, a popular Northern Soul DJ who died from covid in 2020 💔
Last Friday, we painted 132 hearts on the new section of the National Covid Memorial Wall, one for each baby, child or young person who has died from covid-19.
Tomorrow we will be adding four more.
Four more devastated families.
Sadly 😢 DHSC/ report the death of another child on 12th January with Covid, a boy 0-4.
England 124
Scotland 7
Wales 3
NI 2
UK Child Covid Deaths 136
#coronavirus
#COVID19
#SARSCoV2