Memorial bench the first step in remembering those who left us

A commemorative bench was officially unveiled on Sunday, June 27 at Danescourt Cemetery in Wolverhampton, following months of donations and fundraising from the Wolverhampton Caribbean Community Memorial Trust.

The trust installed the bench as part of a number of commemorative events, which include a service at Church of God of Prophecy on Sunday, July 25.

The chair of the trust, Angela Verley, said the idea for the commemorative events had started in March 2020, following the death of her father Rupert Lue at the age of 87.

She said: "My father passed away on March 9 and we were set to have his funeral on March 23, which eventually became lockdown day across the country.

"We went from having the traditional funeral in the Caribbean culture, with hundreds of people in attendance and a full church service arranged, to not even being able to carry the coffin and having to leave before we could cover the coffin.

"My father had been in this community since he was a young man and we had expected to give him the traditional send-off, so it felt very strange and like we couldn't send him off in the right way."

Ms Verley said she and her family had begun making plans for a remembrance service in his honour, but then began to alter the plans when it became apparent how many people in their community were dying.

She said: "By the end of April, I'd counted nearly 40 people that we knew who had died in Wolverhampton and I realised that there were going to be many people who were going through the same thing as us.

"We decided to begin work on putting together a memorial service to remember all those people, because there were so many who have passed and we would have been at their funerals."

The fundraising campaign started by the memorial trust has helped to fund the memorial bench, which has the inscription of "2020 to 2021" as a way of remembering everyone who has died in the last year.

Ms Verley said she hoped the bench could inspire people in years to come and help remember all those who were lost in the pandemic.

She said: "I think this will be a lasting monument as this part of history will never be forgotten, with a whole generation of people gone.

"I hope that 50 years from now, people will see this bench and remember what happened and know that it is not just for one person, but for everyone."

To find out more about the Wolverhampton Caribbean Community Memorial Trust, go to facebook.com/Wolverhampton-Caribbean-Community-Memorial-Trust-WCCMT-104942444532171/.