National Memorial Arboretum

The National Memorial Arboretum, near Lichfield, is a tranquil place and is home to over 150 memorials and dedications to the country's military past. Recently it was chosen as the place for a new national memorial to the armed forces, which opened in the Autumn last year. The memorial is fairly close to where Lynne & John live (Dad's cousin and husband), so it seemed a good idea to meet up and then stay with them overnight as we hadn't visited them for some time.

The Arboretum covers some 150 acres, with well over 100 memorials and dedications on site besides the new Armed Foces Memorial. Whilst some of these smaller memorials were impressive in their own right, to be honest others weren't what we would have expected, and what disappointed us more was the overall state of the grounds, which weren't as manicured as they ought to have been.

Nevertheless, the Armed Forces Memorial was much more impressive, with two sweeping curved walls enclosing two further walls which were inscribed with the names of all service men and women killed either on duty or by terrorists since the second world war - over 16,000 names. A thought-provoking sight, but what was equally poignant was the vast empty spaces reserved for many thousands more to be inscribed there in the future.