ON the fifth anniversary of the start of the COVID pandemic, people came together to remember friends and family who died as well as those who helped the sick and community.
The event, held at the war memorial in Bexhill today (Sunday), hundreds gathered to give each other comfort and hear from key people about their experiences during the pandemic.
Candles were laid at the ‘Tree of Hope’, a metal sculpture which was the brainchild of ex-Mayor Lynn Langlands and was unveiled in April 2021.
Lynn, who also organised the event alongside Jimmy Stanger and Brian Drayson, was delighted the event gave an opportunity for residents to come together and support each other.
She told Bexhill News: “The gathering was a great success. It was something that I was delighted to be able to organise because I was Mayor during COVID and it meant a lot.
“There was a lot of struggling and suffering, and it’s good, five years on, to reflect on it and just get together and realise that there’s a way out and a way forward, and we can all be a little bit more positive about our future.
“Globally, seven million people died, this was like a sort of infectious War as it killed and devastated the lives of so many. And I think it really, it’s incumbent upon us to come together once a year just to remember that.”
The event, presented by Lord Brett McLean, also heard from Vice Chairman of East Sussex County Council Councillor Abul Azad, Former Deputy Mayor of Bexhill Claire Baldry, who read a poem she wrote in 2021, whilst Jimmy Stanger read some experiences on behalf of his wife who worked for the NHS during the pandemic. He was helped by his young son Harry who also read out some of the story to the crowd.
Residents were then invited to lay a candle at the Tree of Hope in memory of a loved one.
Photos: Paul Gibson
