Walking in London parks, as I do. I have noticed a proliferation in the number of memorials. None of them individually are in any way objectionable – I make an exception for the Queen Mother gates at Hyde Park corner – and many excellent. They will never be removed and so the number grows, collectively encroaching on the central London parks.
In the 1990s the idea of having a location outside London for remembrance was conceived and the National Memorial Arboretum was born. It officially opened in 2001 on 150 acres of reclaimed gravel workings near Lichfield.
I spent a weekend in Lichfield in August 2011 and took in Evensong in the cathedral and a longish circular walk that took me to the NMA. It seemed to me a bit of a mess but I was unaware the tree planting was so new and some of the memorials were trite. A low point was seeing a road sign with a squashed hedge hog symbolising road safety. But there were others that are simple and dignified.
“The Household Division Memorial at the National Memorial Arboretum honours the seven regiments of the Household Division, including the Household Cavalry and the five foot guards regiments. The memorial features the badges of the two Household Cavalry regiments on its plinth, and the badges of the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish, and Welsh Guards are mounted on its railings. The paving is made of interlocking stone blocks representing the home nations. The different-coloured stone paving stones—white granite for England, red granite for Scotland, green limestone for Ireland, and black slate for Wales—represent the unity and pride of the division.” (AI) The five badges of the foot guards are mounted on railings symbolising Buckingham Palace.
The NMA was immature in 2011 and a visit today would be more impressive now the arboretum (more than 25,000 trees) is maturing. “Within the arboretum is the Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness where, at 11 am each day, an act of remembrance takes place. Following the two-minute silence, accompanied by the Last Post and Reveille, there is an introductory talk about the arboretum.” I am minded to return one morning, this time by car.
I can heartily recommend a visit. We are there every year for the Chindit Memorial and the Burma Star memorial, both sharp left when you are through the gates. This year on VJ-Day your point about the trees really came home. Gradually the whole site has been transformed as the trees grow and mature.
Christopher,
You are right. It is indeed a most impressive site now and beautifully tended by a dedicated and impassioned staff. The Armed Forces Memorial is itself a particularly moving aspect of the whole with its surrounding walls containing the names of those killed in combat in later conflicts than the Great War and WW11. It has been built such that at 11am on 11 Nov, if there is a sun, its ray will fall obliquely across the central catafalque in an extraordinary testament by nature to the occasion. We were there several year’s ago on a totally overcast day for Armistice. At 1058am, the clouds parted and there was a bright shaft of sunlight as described: At 1102 am, the clouds returned. Uncanny.
Anthony
As one from a police family I found the Police Memorial, dating only from 2021, to be very moving.
Most of it is excellent and absorbing. My departure planned for noon happened at 4pm. Particularly moving: 1. Burma Railway mock up and memorial, 2. 300+ stakes commemorating British servicemen (now exonerated) shot at them and 3. above all the tribute to Poland. A very powerful must visit.