From the top of Bwlch Mountain, the sun is shining, there’s not a cloud in the sky and we can see for miles down the Welsh Valleys.
I am sat with Bev Johnson, who, back in 2021 along with other locals bereaved by COVID-19, built a huge heart out of stone on the side of this hill overlooking Treorchy and Pentre.
“It was just somewhere for people to go – for them to grieve and to remember – because no one had anywhere to go,” she tells me.
She and a team of volunteers have just refurbished the heart – repainted it bright yellow so it stands out amongst the green – to mark the five-year anniversary of the pandemic.
Bev lost her mum Sheila to COVID.
Like so many others, she was unable to visit her in hospital in her final hours, not able to give her a proper funeral.
She remembers having to call the ambulance shortly after Christmas Day.
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“She made me promise then that I would make sure she came out – she said, ‘I’m only taking two changes of clothes, nighties’, she said ‘I’m not staying in there long’…and, that was the last I seen of her.”
Bev is one of many in Rhondda Cynon Taff who, at the height of the pandemic, were living in some of the most infected parts of the UK.
For many of them, the impact, cruelty, fear of that time feels like a different world.
But for others – they still have not recovered.
Seven miles up the valley is the Cynon Valley Indoor Bowls Centre.
Manager Alison remembers when they had to hand it over to become a testing site, then a vaccination hub.
“It was quite sad really. It was quite upsetting because one, we were all a bit anxious about what was happening to the world, and then two, it was like are we ever going to get through this and what’s going to happen to the centre?”
Many of the workers in the club restaurant were furloughed but worked at the testing site.
Alison is proud of their community – but the closure of the club and the age demographic of its members meant the pandemic hit them hard.
Before, there were 180 members – now there are just 60, and they only started playing again in December 2024.
“Sadly one or two did lose through COVID, some lost partners through COVID, and some obviously their health declined and not only mentally but physically.
“The decline in the sport has been vast, to be honest with you and it’s going to take a long time to get back up and running to as we were before.”
Rhondda Cynon Taf and Merthyr Tydfil had some of the highest COVID-19 death rates in the UK, with 326.6 and 295.1 deaths per 100,000 people respectively.
At one point, Merthyr had the highest infection rate in the whole country.
“What we experienced then was such a stark contrast to life that was previously normal, and we struggled to imagine how it’d ever be normal again,” says Paul Edwards, pastor at the Hope Church in the centre of the town.
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He tells me how overnight services, groups and prayer meetings had to go online.
“Obviously we understood the reason why were unable to meet but at the same time we wanted to keep the community together.”
He’s keen to tell me about the church’s successful pantry, allowing those in need to pay a small amount for their shopping.
It was an idea that was born out of COVID, but it continues to thrive and feeds more than 500 locals.
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“I think for us to be able to look back over that whole five-year period and to see some things that began in a situation that was horrendous and negative, and actually out of those things we’ve seen real community.”
On the high street, it’s difficult to remember how empty it was when lockdown was announced back in March 2020.
But there are reminders of COVID.
Just behind the library, a memorial board lists the names of those who died from the disease. It hits you when you see their dates of death so near to each other.
Back on Bwlch Mountain, Bev tells me plans for Sunday’s Day of Reflection.
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There will be a male voice choir and a chance for people to come together.
“It’s a day of reflection, reflecting back, what we all went through – and hopefully we never have to go through that again.”
