Always on
This project successfully funded on 9th February 2023, you can still support them with a donation.
The Upkeep of the National Covid Memorial Wall
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
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Aim
To raise funds to preserve and protect the unique central London memorial, dedicated to all those who have died from Covid-19 in the UK.
Creat
ed by bereaved families in 2021, the National Covid Memorial Wall is a visual representation of the UK's catastrophic loss to Covid-19. Once the Wall began to fade in Summer 2021, a small group of bereaved volunteers, known as The Friends of the Wall, came together to stop the wall disappearing. In June 2025, their application for charitable status was successful, and in November 2025, the UK Government announced that they would work with the Friends of the Wall to ensure its preservation.
The National Covid Memorial Wall stretches for 500 metres alongside the River Thames, directly opposite the Houses of Parliament. There are more than 240,000 individually hand-painted red hearts, each representing a person who died with Covid-19 as a direct cause of death.
Many of the hearts on the Wall have been personalised with individual messages written either by the bereaved or by the volunteers who are there every week, maintaining this unique memorial. The original hearts were drawn with art pens, which quickly faded in the London weather, so each heart on the entire Wall has had to be repainted with long-lasting masonry paint.
The Friends of the Wall are in ongoing discussions with relevant authorities, as they work towards the Wall being made a permanent memorial. Funds raised will be used for materials to maintain and preserve the Wall, for remembrance events such as the Day of Reflection and the Wall's anniversary on 29th March of each year, and for all the necessary legal costs and planning permission required to ensure that the National Covid Memorial Wall is there for future generations.
Looking into the future, we also hope to be able to create a portable representation of the National Covid Memorial Wall that we can exhibit around the United Kingdom, enabling people who would be unable to visit London to see and engage with it.
As the Wall is a UK memorial, although located in London, the Friends of the Wall also try to make it as accessible as possible through public events, such as lighting 2000 LED candles for Christmas, anniversary ceremonies and other activities to promote the National Covid Memorial Wall highlighting the ongoing loss of life.
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made