Covid-19: 'They were people who were very much loved'

An art installation of 1,000 lights has been created to commemorate lives lost during the coronavirus pandemic.

Bruce Munro said his Field of Light artwork was about the individual spirits of those who have died.

He has planted the stems of light into the Wiltshire landscape, with every one representing "the spirit of hope for a life lost".

The UK death toll from coronavirus passed 100,000 on Tuesday, the first European nation to pass the landmark.

"The feeling of the Field of Light came from a landscape that's all about spirit and optimism," said Wiltshire artist Mr Munro, who has created similar displays in Wiltshire and California.

Field of Light has been created in the Wiltshire countryside

"For me this is about the individual spirits of the people who have died and left us in these terrible times but with optimism because they were people who were very much loved and they loved people themselves and this is really their love living on in a very positive way.

"The Field of Light stands for a future world that is connected. It's about life, not death. Every stem represents the spirit of hope for a life lost".

Mr Munro said Field of Light is about life, spirit and optimism

Jan Haslam's husband Terry died of Covid-19 on 8 April 2020, aged 70.

She said she could feel her husband was there with her when she visited the Field of Light with daughter Katie.

"We didn't have the chance to say goodbye and this is maybe a way of reaching out and saying goodbye because I do feel he is here. I do feel he is close to me," she said.

Terry Haslam died of Covid-19 in April 2020 shortly after becoming a grandfather for the first time

The couple had been married for 36 years and had just become grandparents for the first time.

"He used to rub my wedding ring and it would be lovely for him to do that again. He was very dry-witted, very sharp, we had a lovely life together, we were lucky. I was blessed to meet him," said Mrs Haslam.

Her daughter added: "When you walked through the door you would be able to just see him in the chair and he would say 'alright Kate?' I miss that maybe the most, something that wouldn't seem anything to anyone else."