{"id":50299,"date":"2024-03-08T17:43:13","date_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sheflive.co.uk\/?p=50299"},"modified":"2024-03-08T17:43:13","modified_gmt":"2024-03-08T17:43:13","slug":"sheffield-remembers-victims-of-covid-19-pandemic-in-first-annual-day-of-rememberance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/03\/08\/sheffield-remembers-victims-of-covid-19-pandemic-in-first-annual-day-of-rememberance\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheffield remembers victims of COVID-19 pandemic in first annual day of rememberance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Sheffield paid tribute to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thestar.co.uk\/health\/coronavirus\/sheffield-reaches-grim-milestone-of-2000-coronavirus-cases-location-of-every-south-yorkshire-case-4177240\">2000 lives lost<\/a> during the COVID-19 pandemic on March 3rd, marking the inauguration of an annual day of remembrance and reflection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The event, which took place in Balm Green Gardens near Barkers Pool, commenced with a minute of silence at noon and created a space for residents to grieve and extend support to one another. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an introductory speech, Tom Hunt, leader of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheffield.gov.uk\/\">Sheffield City Council<\/a>, said: \u201cToday is an opportunity for us to remember the pain and the sadness, but also the moments of strength and compassion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those attending were invited to revisit and process the hardships suffered throughout and following the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Several personal stories were shared throughout the day, reminding everyone present of the magnitude of loss endured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Lord Mayor of Sheffield, Colin Ross, hangs leaf on memorial tree\" width=\"1080\" height=\"608\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/2gqJfyfZwCc?feature=oembed\"  allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Reflecting on her personal experience, Natasha Hollingsworth, 27, a support worker, said: &#8220;My parents couldn&#8217;t visit me because of lockdown, we also dealt with family loss and restrictions, we couldn&#8217;t see her while she was deteriorating in the hospital, dying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Between 10 am and 4 pm, a workshop was held in which individuals could craft fabric leaves with personalized messages to attach to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/uk-england-south-yorkshire-64070586\">memorial tree<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The leaves, which the council would later collect and archive, highlighted the different, though interconnected, experiences of those in attendance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rose Tomson, 39, a freelance worker for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodland-wellbeing.com\/\">Woodland Wellbeing<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.compassionate-sheffield.co.uk\/whats-on\">Compassionate Sheffield<\/a>, who facilitated the workshop, said: \u201cI think people sometimes need something tangible to be able to let go, and we\u2019ve given them a process that they can work through to talk about and share their experience, which is important, especially for those people who didn&#8217;t have anyone in lockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheflive.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2024\/03\/workshop-2-1024x569.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-50338\" style=\"width:823px;height:auto\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>While the event&#8217;s primary focus was to commemorate those who had passed, it also celebrated \u2018the bonds of the kinship of community\u2019 throughout the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The importance of collective resilience and collaboration during COVID-19 and moving forward was emphasised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>David Bussue, Chief Executive Officer for SACMHA, acknowledged city-wide cooperation though urged all \u201cnot to let it take a pandemic or a horrific murder to wake us up and help us see each other; there really is only one race, the human race<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>and we are all part of it\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sheffield paid tribute to the 2000 lives lost during the COVID-19 pandemic on March 3rd, marking the inauguration of an annual day of remembrance and reflection. The event, which took place in Balm Green Gardens near Barkers Pool, commenced with a minute of silence at noon and created a space for residents to grieve and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":50328,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,132,166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50299","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-top-stories","category-top-story-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}