Blessing and new name for land where temporary mortuary will be near Wollaston

The mayor of Wellingborough has named the site where the county's temporary mortuary will be.

Northants County Council announced on Good Friday that it was opening a temporary mortuary just outside Wollaston for the predicted increase in county deaths due to Covid-19.

With the site falling within the borough of Wellingborough, its mayor Cllr Jo Beirne has said it will be known as The Leys.

She has also asked for the land, which is where Wollaston tip used to be before it closed to the public in 2017, to be blessed.

A statement released by Cllr Beirne said: "My fellow residents in the borough of Wellingborough, we have been given the honour and responsibility of minding the deceased of the county of Northamptonshire should things get worse during this time of the Covid-19 pandemic.

"We will do this respectfully and quietly, with thought and prayer for those souls and their loved ones.

"I am calling this site of the temporary mortuary in the parish of Wollaston, where I live, The Leys.

"I have seen in the newspaper and, on social media references to what the site was once used for.

"I share the same concerns as you.

"However, we are where we are for good practical reasons in a time of exceptional circumstances.

"It is not helpful to those who have lost loved ones to carry on with these references.

"We, of all ages will show respect to those that go before us.

"I have today asked the Reverend Adrian Morton from St Mary’s Church in the parish of Wollaston to go and bless the ground and say prayers as will The Mayor’s Chaplin, Elder Peter Skinner.

"The Leys will be a temporary resting place for our departed friends and family.

"They will be safe, treated with respect and dignity.

"The people of Wollaston and the borough of Wellingborough will mind over them and care, be that with thoughts or prayers.

"To those outside of the borough of Wellingborough who may have loved ones resting with us at The Leys, we will do everything we can to look after them whilst they are with us.

"Do not worry, we have them and will look after them."

To read more about the temporary mortuary, as first reported by the Northants Telegraph on Friday, click here

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