National Arboretum in for facelift

Nov 25 2009 by Kat Keogh, Birmingham Mail

STRIKING designs for an £8 million upgrade of a Midland memorial honouring thousands of fallen servicemen and women have been revealed.

The National Memorial Arboretum in Alrewas is to undergo a facelift after being branded “not good enough” by trustee and Gulf War veteran Major General Patrick Cordingley.

The Birmingham Mail told on Monday how a five-fold increase in visitor numbers to the site had forced organisers to hold major events on muddy fields and host veterans in semi-permanent marquees.

The site, which opened in 2001, was designed for 60,000 to 100,000 visitors a year and is struggling to cope with annual visitor numbers now topping 300,000.

Now trustees have launched the Future Foundations appeal in a bid to transform the Arboretum into a “world-class” remembrance site able to accommodate up to 500,000 visitors a year.

Appeal chairman and commander of the Desert Rats in the first Gulf War Maj Gen Cordingley said: “Such is the popularity of the Arboretum that we’re now forced to hold major events on a muddy field and host veterans in semi-permanent marquees. It’s not good enough and we must better honour the memory of those who went before us.”

The 150-acre Arboretum is home to 160 memorials, including the Armed Forces Memorial, which commemorates the lives of 16,000 service men and women killed on duty or by terrorist action since the end of the Second World War.

Plans include a remembrance centre which with an Armed Forces pavilion and Heroes’ Square to host the Arboretum’s 200 annual remembrance events.

each year.