All to often people over look places of interest on their own doorsteps. We could be accused of this. However my nearly 95 year old father has wanted to visit for sometime, so last weekend we decided to. The National Memorial Arboretum is close to Alrewas, between Lichfield and Burton on Trent in Staffordshire
We set off at10am with Dads mobility scooter in the back of the car. We took the A roads rather than the motorway…it probably wasn’t the best route and it took us 2.5 hours… But arrive we did. Having pre-booked online an accessibility parking place for the cost of £5, we were shown to a parking bay close to the visitors centre.
The National Memorial Arboretum is a place of Remembrance. They put it rather nicely in their guide book -£3.50- …”Remembrance is steeped in history and over the years has become widely recognised through symbols, imagery and stories”. At the Arboretum there are over 400 memorials, each one has been erected in honour of service and sacrifice to our country, some are for Armed Forces, Emergency Services and charitable organisations.
The land was previously a reclaimed mineral extraction site and was donated by the formerly known Redland Aggregates, now today as Tarmac. The ground was prepared, after a national fund raising appeal in 1994 and planting started in 1996, thanks to finance from the National Lottery and a partnership with the national Forest Company. In 1998 the first memorial was installed. This was a 5ft high 9ft long Polar Bear which is a tribute to the 49th West Riding Division. They adopted the Polar Bear insignia after the Second World War, where they saw action in Norway and Iceland. Their campaign was compounded by heavy snow hence the nickname. In 2001 The Arboretum was officially opened and in 2003 the Royal British Legion became its parent charity.
There is lots of information on the internet about the Arboretum. I had previously down loaded each of the 4 routes – Pink, Orange, Blue, Purple. From the internet maps you can see which memorials are where and plan what you want to see, unless of course you intend to walk around all 4 routes. The guide books tell you where the main memorials are but not all of them. Also as you walk around there didn’t seem to be any coloured route markers so you do need to use a map.
We set off on the Orange route because the Round Table, Ladies Circle, Tangent and 41 Club memorial was on that route and both my parents had been members, in fact my father is still a member of 41 Club. We saw lots of lovely Memorials some with inscriptions some with information boards.
We particularly liked the memorial to Evacuees. The memorial was given by the British Evacuees Association and it is entitled ‘Every Which Way’. It portrays the sense of bewilderment many evacuees felt when they had to leave their families and friends and were sent to live in unfamiliar surroundings during the Second World War. Dad could relate to this. He was evacuated from London to family in Rugby and Coventry. We found a figure of a young boy which we thought resembled Dad as he was only 8 when he was evacuated.
We continued on fascinated by the extraordinary number and designs of the memorials. It was very humbling….all these services and charities working so hard to keep us all safe..YES! we should never forget …
Some were really intricate and moving…
On we walked it is a quiet and serene area on the edge of the River Tame, which encourages reflection and tranquility.
As we walked on Dad took pity on my little legs and let me have a short ride.
We circled around a little uncertain exactly where the memorial we wanted to see was.
Finally we decided to ask one of the many staff where the 41 Club memorial was. Well! would you credit it …..we had walked right past it…how had we missed it…Well! It would seem the memorial garden has 41 trees in a circle with a central obelisk. It celebrates the community service achievements of the Round Table (Men aged 18-45) and Ladies Circle ( ladies aged 18-45). After the age of 41 Men tend to transfer to 41Club and ladies to Tangent. Both my parents were members of both for a very long time…Finally we saw it
We wandered back towards the visitors centre passing many more intriguing memorials. John particularly liked the one dedicated to railway workers.
We continued on the main avenue back towards the entrance, stopping to read about the memorials……
Just before we returned to our starting point we spied another memorial Dad had wanted to see. The Freemasons memorial.
On returning to the visitors centre I went and enquired about the train we had seen going around. We decided we would take it as it went to areas we had not walked to and we were all quite tired. The entrance to the Memorial Arboretum is free but there is a cost for the train… we paid just £8 per person…I am not certain whether its more for non-oldies!
What a wonderful day we had had… We went home via the motorway, stopping at a Harvester for a bite to eat…..we were all tired but all so very pleased that we had seen this national treasure… Yes! it is right and proper that we never forget those who have given so much to make our lives safe, to keep us free and this National Memorial Arboretum is the perfect place to go and give thanks and count our blessings.
2 J's World of Adventure 