It was an unprecedented time that brought the world to a standstill and put families through some of the most difficult periods of their lives. But now the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has once again been turned into a creative memorial in Scotland.
Twelve new specially designed covid memorials have been unveiled in the East Dunbartonshire area this week, to allow locals to reflect on the pandemic.
Bespoke aurors have been created and placed in Auchinairn, Baldernock, Bearsden, Bishopbriggs, Kirkintilloch, Lennoxtown, Lenzie, Milngavie, Milton of Campsie, Torrance, Twechar, and Waterside.
Residents and groups in East Dunbartonshire commemorated the opening of the memorials this week after several years of community engagement.
The 12 new aurors form part of the Remembering Together project, which sought to give each of Scotland’s 32 local authorities the chance to reflect on their unique experience of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Remembering Together fund is one of the legacies of The Herald’s Covid memorial campaign which launched in 2020.
READ MORE:
Scotland remembers Covid victims with minute's silence
I remember.... Covid memorial acknowledges it's not over
Multiple artists and creative organisations have been commissioned throughout the country to help deliver memorials that mean something to each community, so locals can honour those who lost their life, and acknowledge all the ways that Covid might still be affecting people.
During phase one of the East Dunbartonshire project, Elena Mary Harris was hired as lead participatory artist and facilitator.
She worked alongside the 12 communities in the council area to help shape ideas and turn people’s experiences of the pandemic into a creative memorial that would best reflect each area.
Ms Harris hosted engagement sessions and attended events such as Twechar Beach Day, Milngavie Week, and Kirkintilloch Gala Day using print, video, and spoken word to empower participants to communicate through creativity.
After the consultations, locals were able to choose from three different designs, and the project has finally been realised.
Ms Harris told The Herald: "Over the past couple of years working on this project, it has been really incredible getting to know the people and communities across East Dunbartonshire and it has been a real privilege to listen to those stories, document them, and create something to share those stories.
“Hopefully, we can widen understanding of how people experienced Covid and lockdown in East Dunbartonshire and ensure that the generations to come understand it.
“It allows us to really remember the things people did, what people went through, and how they supported each other.”
Each bench, unveiled in the 12 East Dunbartonshire towns and villages tells its own story, and locals can find the location of their nearest one by visiting the Remembering Together website.
The memorials include three key elements; a covered seated area designed for communal reflection; a guided walk meant to represent how residents found new routes and paths through the pandemic; and different soundscapes for each bench that bring together stories of local groups and individuals.
The benches also include soundscapes of performances from local musicians.
The Scottish Government announced the £4m Remembering Together fund amidst its support for The Herald’s campaign.
The campaign resulted in the creation of a memorial in Glasgow’s Pollok Country Park with a public fund contributed towards it of £250,000.
The ultimate aim of the project is to bring together communities and artists in a spirit of reflection, hope, and healing – commemorating local residents who lost their lives, the many who experienced profound change and loss, and the ways in which people came together during unprecedented times.
The East Dunbartonshire campaign was delivered in collaboration with Greenspace Scotland, the local authority, and the East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel