An avenue of trees is to be planted in Crawley in honour of more than 300 residents who died of Covid.
The news was announced during a meeting of the full council on Wednesday (February 26).
Sue Mullins, cabinet member for community engagement & culture, said 22 upright sweet gum trees would be planted along one of the paths in the Memorial Gardens.
With star-shaped green leaves which turn orange, gold and purple in the autumn, Mrs Mullins said they would be ‘a beautiful memorial to those people that we’ve lost’.
An estimated 340 people in the town died because of the virus, with more than 45,000 cases of Covid recorded by the end of 2023.
Mrs Mullins said: “Crawley being a very multicultural town, most of the people here come from all over the country and from all over the world. I am sure that every family in Crawley can tell you they’ve lost a family member, a colleague, a friend.” She added: “We’ve looked around at how we can mark this devastating time for all of us and what would be appropriate.”
Work will start now to prepare the ground for planting, and the trees are expected to be in place by November.
If all goes well, they would be budding in time for the sixth anniversary. Memorial benches will be placed between the trees.
Mrs Mullins said: “Hopefully this will become a place for reflection and remembrance in our town – and something [to ensure] we’ll never forget those people who went before us.”
A Day of Reflection is to be held on March 9 to mark the fifth anniversary of the pandemic, which claimed seven millions lives worldwide.
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