London memorial is focal point for shared grief

People gather each Thursday to remember those who have died during the coronavirus pandemic. Each person is remembered with a simple sheet of paper glued to the wall. A bell is rung. Then there's a moment of silence. Sixteen people have been remembered including a doctor, a hospital porter, a father and son who worked as cobblers, a retired seamstress, and a bass guitarist.

London: A plywood wall that surrounds a building site, painted with the words "WE GRIEVE" in massive letters, has become a focal point for residents of a London neighborhood.

It is there that they gather each Thursday to remember those who have died during the coronavirus pandemic.

It might seem an odd venue. But it's central and there's space for social distancing a place for civic grief in the Stamford Hill neighborhood

"I think we are realising that not only are there personal stories of loss, stories going on, but there is a deep sense of grief that we all experience, that we are in a changing time," said the Rev. William Taylor, vicar of St. Thomas', an Anglican church on Clapton Common.

"We need to find ways in which we can make that sense of grief visible to one another and that's one of the things that is happening now."

This London neighborhood is diverse, even for a multicultural city.

The common park was once surrounded by terraced houses built for the genteel who flocked to the area in the 19th century.

But new groups moved in after World War II, and these days it is most well known as home to one of the largest Ultra Orthodox Jewish communities in Europe.

And, in a way, it is that diversity that spawned the grief wall.

A conversation between Taylor and designer Mike Abrahams led to the ceremony of posting the names of the dead every Thursday, just before the nation pauses to clap in support of health workers battling the pandemic.

Each person is remembered with a simple sheet of paper glued to the wall. A bell is rung. Then there's a moment of silence.

Sixteen people have been remembered. They include a doctor, a hospital porter, a father and son who worked as cobblers, a retired seamstress, and a bass guitarist.

Marcia Mullings came to remember a friend and her brother, Gary, who died of cancer and had only a small funeral because of coronavirus restrictions. Being with her neighbors eased her pain.

"We are not just here for grief, we are also here in the presence of love and that can mean a lot in a time like this,'' she said.

(With inputs from AP)