23rd March 2021 - A National Day of Reflection - GovDelivery

23rd March 2021 - A National Day of Reflection
23rd March 2021 marks the first anniversary of the Covid-19 National UK lockdown.
Over the past twelve months many people have lost their loved ones. Some people
have died as a direct result of Covid-19 and some have died for related reasons
such as reduced access to treatment and care for other health conditions. Many
others have also died during this year for reasons unrelated to Covid infection.

The impact of the pandemic has made coping with bereavement much harder during
this difficult time. The restrictions necessary to prevent the spread of Covid have
made it difficult to conduct and attend funerals or memorial services. In many cases
our normal ways of remembering a loved one have been limited or postponed.

How will we observe this day in Stoke and North Staffordshire?
At the Beth Johnson Foundation, we are collaborating with Marie Curie, a national
charity established in 1948 to support people with life limiting conditions; Stoke-on-
Trent City Council; and Asist, a local advocacy charity, to unite, reflect and
remember loved ones who have died during the first year of the pandemic. There will
be a number of activities to encourage our communities to come together and
remember loved ones no longer with us.

We are inviting people to contribute to a memory wall that will be hosted on the
Beth Johnson Foundation Website.

The memory wall will acknowledge the lives of loved ones who have died through
sharing photos and memories of them.

It is a way for us to share our grief together and to publicly acknowledge the impact
of living in a community affected by Covid.

The web page will be public and can be viewed by anyone who visits our website.

Who Is Involved?
The memory wall is a collaboration between two local charities - Beth Johnson
Foundation (www.bjf.org.uk/) and ASIST Advocacy Service (https://www.asist.co.uk/)
We are also working in partnership with national charity Marie Curie
(https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/ ) who will be leading similar commemorative events
for the whole of the UK as part of the National Day of reflection on 23rd March.

What will it Look Like?
The page will display names and photographs of people who have died and short
pieces of information about them. The tributes might be about their personality, a
significant memory or a message about how they are loved and missed.

The front page of the Beth Johnson website will display a selection of the
contributions on a constantly changing slide show. If someone clicks a slide it will
take them to the person’s entry on the memory wall.

Who is it For?
The memory wall is for anyone living in Stoke-on-Trent or North Staffordshire who
has experienced a bereavement in the last twelve months.

How Can I Take Part?
Please send us your memories. All we need is a few sentences or a short paragraph
that could include any of the following:

   • Their first name and their relationship to you (for example: mother, father,
     brother, wife, friend)
   • The years of their birth and death
   • Something about their personality
   • A treasured memory of them
   • How much they are missed.
   • Anything else you want to say.
   • We will include your first name or family name if you wish.

If you wish you can also send a photograph of the loved one who has died. Please
make sure you ask for the permission of anyone else who appears in the picture.

If you want to post anonymously that is okay. You can have an entry on our memory
wall that does not include any photographs or names.

When Will it Take Place?
In order to be included please send your memorial to us as soon as possible and no
later than the 23rd March. The memory wall will be displayed from Monday 15th
March until Friday 26th March.

How to Contact Us
You can email us, contact us via social media or write to us. Please include details
of how we can contact you.

Email us at admin@bjf.org.uk
Message us via Facebook www.facebook.com/bethjohnsonfoundation
Twitter twitter.com/bethjohn64

Write to us:

Day of Reflection
Beth Johnson Foundation
Parkfield House, 64 Princes Road
Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent, ST4 7JL

If you post us anything that needs to be returned please make sure you include your
return address details.

Permission to Publish
Anything you send for our memory wall may be published on the Beth Johnson
Foundation website and may also appear on the websites of our partner
organisations who will be helping us publicise the event. Material may also appear
on social media such as Facebook as part of publicising the memory wall event.

We will not publish your full name, telephone number, address, email address or
other personal details. However, we do need a means to contact you which is why
we ask for your contact information.

We want to tell as many people as possible about the memory wall. We may wish to
reproduce some of the memory wall submissions in our newsletter and other print
publications. Please let us know if you do not want us to use your memorial in this
way.

Bereavement Support

     Sharing memories of lost loved ones can be emotional and sometimes difficult. The
     following numbers may be helpful.

     The Marie Curie Support Line provides practical and emotional support for anyone
     who’s been bereaved, whether it happened recently or some time ago. Call: 0800
     090 2309 or visit mariecurie.org.uk/help/support

     Beth Johnson Foundation will be taking calls on the National Day of Reflection on
     23rd March 2021 between 9am and 5pm. We can offer information about the
     support available from Beth Johnson Foundation and from other
     services. Call 01782 844036

     Beth Johnson Foundation Bereavement Help Points offers support to anyone aged
     50+ living in Stoke or North Staffs Tel: Hilary 07507 408372 / Andrew 07770
     016978 or visit bjf.org.uk/current-initiatives/bereavement-help-points

       You Can View our Memory Wall online from Monday 15th March until Friday
                 26th March on the Beth Johnson Foundation website

                                        www.bjf.org.uk

        We are also working in association with Stoke-on-Trent City Council and the
        Lord Mayor to create a Garden of Reflection so that when restrictions are lifted,
        we have a quiet place to visit and remember our loved ones. The garden will
        have fruit trees as a symbol of hope, new beginnings and inner strength and
        bulbs and plants to recognise the number of lives lost within the City. A
        commemorative bench will hold the words of Captain Sir Tom Moore “the sun
        will shine on you again and the clouds will go away.”

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