Memorial Crosses to patients lost to Covid-19 interred with a service at KGH

More than 300 memorial crosses laid by the relative of a patient lost to Covid-19 have been interred at Kettering General Hospital’s Pocket Park.

A service was held there by KGH Hospital Lead Chaplain the Rev Mike Corcoran on June 26 and attended by James Steele, who lost his 87-year-old mother Betty to Covid in May 2020.

Mr Steele initiated the placing of the 300 small wooden crosses on a lawn close to the hospital’s lower entrance in November 2020 as a memorial to those who lost family members in the first wave of the pandemic.

In February 2022 the crosses were removed and kept safe in a memory box in the hospital’s chapel and replaced with a Memorial Stone donated by stonemason Michael Maynard who lost his own father, Reginald Maynard, to Covid, aged 93, in December 2020.

In addition, the hospital has now dedicated a small part of its popular Pocket Park – where staff and patients can walk at any time – to remember those lost to Covid-19

At the service the original crosses, which have the message #lovethelost2020 Covid-19, were interred at the park, a Rowan tree planted, and a memorial plaque unveiled.

The plaque, donated by Maynard Memorials, has the message:

This plaque marks the final resting place of the memorial crosses placed outside Kettering General Hospital during the 2020 Covid Pandemic

These crosses honour the memory of all those who were taken too soon.

May they rest in peace.

We also remember with heartfelt gratitude all those who fought so hard to save lives.

Hospital Lead Chaplain, the Rev Mike Corcoran, said: “The pandemic was a great shock and surprise to the whole country and many families sadly lost loved ones too soon in its wake.

“It continues to affect many people either physically, through long covid, or because of the impact it has had on their mental health.

“We must also remember the effect it had on the many dedicated staff who work for the NHS and who were at the front line of care and bereavement throughout.

“We hope the memorial in our Pocket Park will help us to remember all those who died and also help us to look forward to the future more positively.”

James said: “I am glad to see that the hospital has taken steps to continue to memorialise those lost to Covid-19.

“The pandemic has been such a tragedy for so many families and it is important that we, as a community, remember what has happened and all those who were lost.

“It feels appropriate that those original crosses, a symbol of the tremendous pain and loss the pandemic caused, have now become part of the permanent memorial to those who died.”