The MP for Brent Central, Dawn Butler, is leading a project to create a memorial quilt to remember Covid-19.
The Parliamentary Covid Memorial Quilt will see MPs, peers and staff contribute personally designed squares to the project in memory of those who have died from the virus, and the front-line heroes who are fighting it.
The cross-party initiative was launched on the National Day of Reflection yesterday (March 23) marking one year since the beginning of lockdown.
“The quilt will be about telling a story of this moment when the world was put on lockdown,” Ms Butler said.
“As the anniversary of lockdown neared, I wanted to do something special to mark the most challenging period of a lifetime.”
The Labour MP will make patches out of a Christmas hat to remember last year’s difficult festive season.
She said: “Instead of 30 family members, we had just four.
“I have also remembered my uncle who died with Covid, his son who died just a few months before, and my father who I know will be looking after them in heaven.”
Ms Butler said MPs have shared experiences suffering in silence across the House.
Four squares will also be dedicated to the four members of staff in Parliament who lost their lives.
A total of 697 people have died with Covid-19 in Brent since the outbreak of the pandemic.
Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: “This is such a wonderful idea that not only brings together our parliamentary community but enables each person to express their feelings in a creative and positive way.”
The quilt is one of several memorials planned to remember those impacted by the virus.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan planted two trees in the London Blossom Garden near Stratford on March 23.
The garden is the first in a series of living memorials to the pandemic organised by Bloomberg and the National Trust.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson also promised a “fitting and permanent” memorial to the pandemic in a briefing the same day, and admitted there were “many things” which could have been done differently over the past year.
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