Lives lost to the Covid-19 pandemic in Greater Manchester are to be remembered and honoured in an online memorial book, created in partnership with Manchester Cathedral and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.
The memorial will launch with a Manchester Cathedral interfaith online service on 16 July.
People bereaved by the virus will be able to submit the name of the person they have lost, a photo and messages about them as well as view other entries in the book of remembrance.
The memorial will offer the opportunity to pay particular tribute to loved ones who died from Covid-19 while working on the frontline in the NHS and social care.
At a meeting of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority today the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham announced that the Cathedral and Combined Authority would work in partnership to develop the memorial.
Greater Manchester’s digital and technology industry have come together to offer support for this cause and volunteers from Reason Digital are developing the online memorial website.
More than 2,800 people have died of Covid-19 in Greater Manchester.
The Very Rev’d Rogers Govender MBE, Dean of Manchester, said: “The pandemic has taken the lives of so many who are dear to us and our communities. So many people have lost their husbands, wives, partners, parents, grandparents, their family, their friends and their colleagues.
“Worse still, we have not been able to provide normal funeral gatherings, so people have not been able to provide that comfort and sharing in loss that is a normal part of bereavement.
“This online memorial is a place to remember all those who have died as a result of the pandemic in Greater Manchester, those of all faiths and of none.”
