COVID-19 memorials and events

The Covid-19 pandemic has been devastating for our people and district. Alongside us coming together to protect our most vulnerable, our society and businesses, we saw many of our people losing their lives, individuals and families losing their loved ones, others their livelihoods, many being left isolated and countless others suffering as their normal lives disappeared.

We have started thinking about what we could do locally, and as a whole community, to remember those we have lost, to recognise the loss and suffering experienced across all our communities and to support each other to heal.

We want to be able to do this as a whole District and also within smaller communities, so would welcome your views and ideas about some of the ways we might remember, reflect and start to heal. On this page you can talk to other people via our forum, let us know where you think COVID-19 memorials and commemorative events should be, and give us detailed feedback via our survey.

This public engagement is now closed for contributions and here is the outcome:

Bradford District residents response to the consultation on memorials and events to commemorate COVID-19, showed that 45 percent of respondents approved memorials, and 34 percent approved events, therefore neither received majority support. For some, it seemed too soon to be considering memorials, for others that it would use funding that could be spent on essential services. However, for those who were supportive of a memorial, it was clear that this was very important. The type of memorial that drew most interest was for a ‘greenspace’.

Following discussions with the Council Leader and Council Management Team, it was agreed to wait until national guidance was issued by the UK Commission on COVID Commemorations before taking further action. The Commission is due to report in March 2023.