A care home manager has issued an open invitation for those who have lost relatives and friends during the pandemic to visit a new memorial gardena and take time to reflect and remember.

The memorial garden was today opened at Hadleigh Nursing Home as a permanent tribute to townspeople who died over the past 18 months due to the virus.

The garden at Friars Lane, was a fusion of inspiration from the care home staff, and Jo Sheldrake, who lost her father Eric Mee last year and wanted to set up a special memorial space.

Mrs Seal, Hadleigh Nursing Home manager said: "It was a vision we had from early early on and we had the full backing of Kingsley Healthcare and it has come to fruition. We are still remembering what it was like last year and earlier this year and so it is very emotional.

"This is for everyone who has lost someone and we can see already what it means for people in the community, those from other care homes and everywhere in the town.

"I have to been Hadleigh that long but I can already see what a close knit community it is so it was vital this is open to everyone.

"It is also important for all my staff to come out here too."

Mrs Sheldrake was at the opening with her mum and said: "It has been an emotional day but my mum has been with me and we have been able to support each other.

"It is a beautiful, calm peaceful garden for people to be able too come and have quiet reflection in their own time.

"I'm still aiming to put a bench at St Mary's as memorial for everyone lost, but this is lovely."

Mayor Frank Minns is backing Mrs Sheldrake's plans for bench and praised Hadleigh Nursing Home's open garden policy.

"There are so many lovely touches here," he said. "A garden is a symbol of contact renewing, It is about remembering and celebrated, not just defined by the manner of their passing. It should be about their lives and we all do foolish, silly, funny things and that is what should be remembered, not just passing due to Covid.

"It is lovely that the home is saying to people to come and see it. Anything that draws the community in is wonderful and I'm sure this will help the care homes that people can engage with the people.

"We have this happing in a beautiful space here but we will have something Jo is working on in the centre of the town that people will see all the time."

Addressing an audience of invited guests from the local community, Kingsley Healthcare's operations director Debbie McGovern said: "The Covid pandemic has taken a terrible toll on Hadleigh, especially on its older population living in care homes.

"But the team here at Hadleigh Nursing Home has emerged from the darkest days stronger and more united. And I am sure the same goes for the town as a whole.

"That is why, in developing this garden, we wanted to honour those who lost their lives across the whole community, not just in our nursing home."

She said in the months and years ahead, it would be a tranquil place where people could reflect on the loved ones they had lost and celebrate their lives.

"We are planning to hold an annual Memorial Day here to remember those who died and look back on the most challenging time we have been through for generations," she said.

Guests were offered Champagne and canapes and there was music from a string quartet.

Data has shown Hadleigh was one of the worst hit communities in the country for Covid deaths and its care homes were badly affected.

Families connected to Hadleigh Nursing Home and other local care homes were among those invited to the official opening.

The garden has a pergola with seating and tables as a central feature; trellis panels at the sides will allow roses and jasmine plants to climb and create a fragrant arch.

From the pergola, people can look out over a rockery and stone water feature.

There is log seating with the inscriptions: "As we sit we Remember" and "Let the sun shine through".