Salisbury Cathedral to host special service marking 2nd anniversary of lockdown
NHS staff, volunteers and care workers among those invited
Salisbury Cathedral and Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust are holding a special service called "We Reflect" to mark the second anniversary of the first national lockdown.
NHS staff, volunteers, care workers and residents from across South Wiltshire, North and East Dorset and South West Hampshire are invited to attend the service which will held at 5.30pm on Tuesday 22nd March.
The Cathedral was used as a vaccination centre for several months during the pandemic
The service which consists of poetry and music traces our 24-month journey through the pandemic in three stages: Lament, Thanks and Hope. Each section will be marked with the lighting of a candle and accompanying prayers.
Led by the Dean and Cathedral clergy with members of the Salisbury NHS Chaplaincy the Lament section will remember and mourn individuals lost during the pandemic. The Thanks section will celebrate the key workers, NHS staff, care workers, and volunteers and thank them for their tireless work and commitment, and Hope will then look forward to a life beyond the pandemic.
Embedded in the service, short monologue excerpts written by playwright Paula B Stanic and commissioned by Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust will explore the experiences of different age groups during the pandemic – a care home worker, a 70-year-old alone at home and the 15-year-old daughter of a hospital worker. The characters may be fictional, but their experiences strike close to home.
Poet Martin Figura will also perform a selection of poems he wrote as Poet in Residence at Salisbury NHS Trust last year. The poems were crafted from around 20 hours of interviews conducted with hospital staff and interwoven with Figura’s own experience of the pandemic.
Speaking about the service The Very Reverend Nicholas Papadopulos said:
“As we move into Spring in the third year of this pandemic, we hope this special service will take us on a journey from those dark and frightening early days, through the hard work of the mass vaccination programme, to our current ‘Living with Covid’ phase. We remain cautious but are hopeful for all that lies ahead. It is so important to mark and reflect on events like these, which have had an impact on all of us, and to celebrate our ability to endure and overcome adversity through our support of one another.”
Stacey Hunter, CEO Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust said:
“We are delighted to be joining with the Cathedral to mark two years since the first pandemic lockdown. This service, which is ecumenical in nature and open to all, will be a thought provoking and fitting way to look back on all that has happened and enable us to look forward with hope.”
A special record of the evening will be made by cartoonist David Lewis, and the service will be live streamed by the Cathedral.
NHS staff and carers and their families wishing to attend the service should email Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust Communication team sft.comms@nhs.net to let them know that they are coming. Care Homes across the region are welcome to participate virtually or join us in person.
The service is open to all in the community.