Families Begin Creating Stoke-on-Trent’s Covid-19 Memorial
Bereaved families have taken the first steps in creating a permanent Covid-19 memorial for Stoke-on-Trent, attending the project’s inaugural memorial tile-making workshop at SpodeWorks.
The workshop, led by local artist Philip Hardaker, brought together eight families to create ceramic tiles in memory of loved ones lost during the pandemic. The individually designed tiles will form part of a permanent ceramic memorial bench to be installed in Bethesda Gardens, providing a lasting place for remembrance, reflection and community healing.
The memorial project was secured following a successful campaign led by Lynn Jones MBE who lost her husband Gareth, a former local headteacher to Covid in 2021 with support from Gareth Snell, Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent Central and Richard Buxton, Chief Executive Officer of The City Centre Business Improvement District who are managing the project and has been awarded £20,000 from the Government’s Pride in Place Impact Fund. The memorial aims to ensure that those who lost their lives during the pandemic are remembered by future generations.
Gareth said “It was incredibly moving to witness families, united by their loss, come together to create something lasting and positive from such difficult experiences. As stories and memories of loved ones were shared, every tile became a deeply personal tribute filled with love, remembrance and meaning. The moment the first completed tile was revealed and met with applause was genuinely special and captured the spirit of the project perfectly.”
The workshop marked the first stage in the creative process. Families will return for a second session in the coming weeks to add colour and decorative details to their tiles before they are professionally fired in a kiln. The finished pieces will then be incorporated into the completed memorial bench.
Lynn Jones MBE said “Personal and precious tiles were made on October 2nd at Spode in Stoke by families who have lost people they love to covid during the pandemic. The process of making a tile is an expression of grief and healing and the location of Spode unites the grief and the local character of Stoke-on-Trent which is the ceramic industry.
“Over 1000 people died in this area to covid. Please come along to one of our tile making sessions supervised by local artist Philip Hardaker to honour your loved one in this very special way”
Artist Philip Hardaker, who designed the memorial and is leading the creative workshops, is working closely with families throughout the project to ensure that each tile reflects the person it commemorates.
Organisers have stressed that the project remains open to all families who wish to take part. Additional workshops will be arranged to ensure everyone who wants to contribute a memorial tile has the opportunity to do so.
Further workshop dates will be announced shortly, with families invited to book places once arrangements have been finalised.
For more information about the Covid-19 Memorial Project, please register your interest by completing the form on Gareth’s website; https://garethsnell.org.uk/covid-memorial/