'We Reflect' - A special service to mark the second anniversary of the first national lockdown

Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust and Salisbury Cathedral are holding a special service, 'We Reflect', to mark the second anniversary of the start of the first national lockdown back in March 2020. The service, which starts at 17:30 on Tuesday 22nd March, is a wonderful opportunity for all local health and care staff to come together with the community to reflect upon the experiences of the past two years. This ecumenical service is open to all communities in South Wiltshire, North and East Dorset and South West Hampshire and is accessible to all faiths and those with none.

Led by the Dean and Cathedral clergy, with members of the Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust 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.

Each section will be marked with the lighting of a candle and accompanying prayers, offering a quiet moment of contemplation.

An area of the Cathedral is being reserved for NHS staff and volunteers, carers and their families and care home staff and residents. If anyone in these groups would like to attend the service, please email sft.comms@nhs.net to let us know you are coming.

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 groups during the pandemic. Martin Figura, Poet in Residence at Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, will perform a selection of poems reflecting the impact of COVID-19 on the staff of Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust, and the mass vaccination programme conducted across Primary Care Networks.

Salisbury Cathedral Boys Choir and adult singers directed by David Halls, the Cathedral’s Director of Music, and Salisbury Cathedral Youth Choir led by Steve Abbott, counter tenor in the Cathedral Choir, are singing the anthems for the service; Howard Goodall’s arrangement of Psalm 23 'The Lord is my shepherd’ and John Rutter’s ‘Bless you and keep you’.

Speaking about the service, 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.”

Anyone who can’t attend in person can participate virtually, as the service will be live streamed by the Cathedral.

03 March 2022