National Memorial gets cash boost from Lafarge

PUBLIC access to the visitor centre at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas, Staffordshire, is to be improved thanks to a £100,000 cash grant from Lafarge Aggregates through the Landfill Communities Fund.

The Arboretum was the main beneficiary of more than £200,000 worth of grants recently announced by the Leicester-based company for local community projects around the country.

The Arboretum, which is planted with 50,000 trees and is part of the National Forest, was established in 1997 on restored sand and gravel workings gifted by Lafarge. It contains 130 memorials of national significance including the new Armed Forces Memorial, which was dedicated recently in a service attended by the Queen.

Providing a focal point for remembrance, the Arboretum is free to enter and is expecting to receive over 120,000 visitors a year.

The £100,000 grant will be used to improve facilities within the existing visitor centre, including extensions to the reception and restaurant areas and the addition of automatic opening doors at the main entrance and exit. At the same time, new presentation screens and a hearing loop will be installed.

Charles Bagot Jewitt, chief executive of the National Memorial Arboretum, said: ‘While many of the trees are still very young, the Arboretum has come of age with the unveiling of the striking new Armed Forces Memorial. This grant from Lafarge will help us to improve our visitor facilities and cope with the huge number of people we are now attracting.

‘We have developed a fantastic partnership with Lafarge, who only recently provided the funds to help us launch a new education resource centre for the hundreds of school children that visit every month.’

Robert Wheatstone, a director of Lafarge Aggregates, said: ‘We are delighted to be able to give more backing to the centre to make it easier for all visitors, especially the disabled and the elderly, to get the most out of visiting the Arboretum.’

Other projects to benefit from Lafarge’s recent allocation of landfill communities grants include two village halls in Leicestershire, a children’s games area in Co. Durham, new visitor centre facilities at Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, and a nature reserve in North Wales.