National Day of Reflection: heart-shaped chalk display in Manchester’s St Peter’s Square for Covid-19 victims

As the country marked two years since the first Covid-19 lockdown the National Day of Reflection featured a number of community-centred events encouraging people to talk, support each other and to reach out for help.

Covid Bereaved Families came together to create a yellow and red heart chalk display in St Peter’s Square in Manchester on Wednesday (23 March).

End of life charity Marie Curie in conjunction with the Covid Bereaved Families in Manchester, encouraged the nation to come together for the National Day of Reflection.

A poignant heart-shaped chalk display in St Peter’s Square created a space for people across the city to connect and support the millions of people who are grieving, as well as remembering the family, friends, neighbours and colleagues lost during the last two years.

A number of blue and yellow hearts were also drawn in support of bereaved families in Ukraine.

According to research released by the charity, almost a third (30%) of us do not think the nation has had the opportunity to truly reflect on the loss that we’ve seen in the last year and more than half of us (53%) feel like we need a moment to reflect and process the impact and communal loss we have experienced.

Furthermore, 43% of people believe that we have become more empathetic or kinder, as a result of the last two years.

Activities also included a minute’s silence at midday to allow people to reflect and think about loved ones who’ve died.