The trees of the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire

IT is not surprising that trees are important in an arboretum. However, the way they are used at the National Memorial Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire was particularly interesting to discover when I visited.

The National Memorial Arboretum, where tree planting began in 1997, is continually changing and evolving as a living tribute to honour those who have served their country. It officially opened in 2001 and there are over 30,000 trees and some 330 memorials laid out in nine different zones across the 150-acre site.

It is a place that I discovered is too big to do justice to in a day, and I plan to return. What I did enjoy finding out about was the stories behind some specific tree plantings and the use of trees or woods as part of a theme, or to enhance the memorials. Many visitors, as they enter the arboretum, are drawn to the Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness. Wood plays a major part in its construction, internally and externally, its roof supported by 12 columns of Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) logs, each with an individual carving of one of the 12 disciples placed on them.

The Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness. Wood plays a major part in its construction, both inside and out.

Other use of wood in the chapel includes three altar crosses, made from trees grown at the arboretum. There is also a large lime wood cross on one of the chapel’s walls. Finally, there is a wooden carving telling the story of the apostles’ link to the delivering of Christ’s message. Douglas firs were chosen as the roof supports because in 1999, when work started on the chapel, it was the 200th anniversary of the birth of David Douglas, the man who introduced this tree species to Great Britain.

You don’t have to go very much further into the arboretum to come across another stunning wooden carving, this time of a life-sized polar bear. This bear is a tribute to the 49th West Riding Infantry Division, who earned the nickname of ‘Polar Bears’ after fighting much of World War II in Norway and Iceland. This 9-foot by 5-foot sculpture weighs two and half tonnes and is mounted on a brick base. Stunning and distinctive, it took a year to carve.

The Armed Forces Memorial with its holm oaks.

This carving is located at Army Parade, close to the evocative Armed Forces Memorial. This is a memorial to members of the British armed forces killed on operational duty or through acts of terrorism since the end of World War II. There are two curved walls and two straight brick walls with Portland stone panels recording their names, all set on top of a grass-covered earth mound. A number of European holm oaks (Quercus ilex) are planted on the slopes of the mound. They stand like silent sentinels guarding the memorial.

One final memorial in this area, which makes use a tree sculpture to enhance the memorial itself, is the Gallipoli Memorial. Dead oak trees have been pollarded to make a striking representation of the arms and hands of injured soldiers reaching skyward as they lay amongst the dead on that terrible battlefield. There are nine of these trees; each represents one of the countries involved in the conflict in the Gallipoli peninsula.

Two memorials in the Garden Zone were of particular interest to me and both are quite rightly located next to one another. They are the Royal Artillery (RA) Garden and the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) Ack Ack Garden. Correct, because members of the ATS were attached to the RA and operated the guns alongside the men of that regiment, and of interest because my father was in the RA and my mother the ATS. They met and married during World War II.

The Camp Bastion Wall and Willow Trees memorial.

The RA Garden has a seat formed from old gun carriages. It also has a water feature with an alder (Alnus glutinosa) tree planted in its centre. Alder tree charcoal was used in the production of gunpowder, a key material for the RA soldiers. There are also a number of other trees planted around the garden dedicated to some well-known people with connection to the RA. The ATS Ack Ack Garden meanwhile has a red-flowering malus growing with an underplanting of blue shrubs; red and blue being the colours of the RA.

This zone also has the RAF Regimental Memorial, where a black granite memorial sits alongside a paved area, designed to represent a runway. Trees are planted in each corner to signify the four corners of the earth that the regiment operates in. The Bevin Boys Memorial also makes use of trees, representing the countries in Britain where the Bevan Boys served during World War II: a narrow oak to represent England, a mountain ash (Sorbus aucuparia) Wales, and a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) Scotland. The Twin Towers Memorial, which contains debris from Ground Zero, has two symbolic giant redwoods (Sequoiadendron giganteum), which are amongst the world’s tallest tree species, planted alongside it. These famous American trees grow tall and proud – a great symbol of the country.

The Far East Zone of the arboretum has a number of trees native to that part of the world. Palm trees are a focal point of the Suez Veterans Association Memorial. They are used alongside a pyramid-shaped structure and a thin blue line of glass,  designed to represent the famous river. Both are iconic symbols of that part of the world.

The Royal Artillery Garden and Memorial, which features an ash tree at its centre.

The British Korean Veterans Association Memorial Garden has its own arboretum within the main arboretum. There are over 100 trees, numbering 27 different types, predominantly from Korea itself or the Asian subcontinent. Four boulders form part of this memorial on a ridge, with plaques attached telling of the units who fought in this four-year campaign. Around them are trees native to Korea including an example of a Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis). Rotary Ridge offers another interesting perspective with its hedge of golden Castlewellan cypress (X Cupressocyparis leylandii ‘Castlewellan Gold’), which forms a windbreak to the arboretum and is quite a striking sight in this zone. Each tree is dedicated to a local Rotary Club.

The Merchant Navy Convoy Wood in the Naval Review Zone is a wood of around 2,500 oak trees, each planted to represent a ship that was lost by the Merchant Navy during the many periods of conflict Great Britain has found itself involved in. The Royal Norwegian Navy Avenue, in contrast, contains numerous silver birch (Betula pendula). Once more, these trees are used to represent the involvement of Norway in helping to protect the World War II Merchant Convoys.

Giant redwoods, or Wellingtonia trees, are used at the Household Division Memorial because of the Duke of Wellington connection.

48 limes, both large-leaved (Tilia platyphyllos) and small-leaved (Tilia cordata), have been planted to form the Yeomanry Avenue. Each tree is dedicated to a Yeomanry Unit, some of which have a history that dates back to Napoleonic times. Weeping Ash (Fraxinus excelsior Pendula) trees were chosen to represent the lives lost in Northern Ireland by members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, its reserve, and the armed forces. These trees are planted alongside six stones in a circle, which symbolise the six counties. A Mourne granite pillar and seven other kinds of ash tree species complete the Ulster Ash Grove.

Giant redwoods make an evolving statement in the United Nations Avenue at the arboretum. These trees, which are in the Poppy Zone, will become more visible from the main railway line that passes close by as they grow and develop. Each has been sponsored by a member country of the United Nations. Looking at them, I was left wondering if they were deliberately chosen to symbolise the strength and power of the United Nations.

The ATS Ack Ack Garden has a red-flowering malus alongside blue shrubs to replicate the colours of the Royal Artillery.

You don’t have to go much further into this zone to appreciate the need for an organisation like the United Nations to help maintain international peace. The Western Front Memorial stands as a fitting tribute to over 950,000 men and women from the British Empire who died in the First World War. This memorial has the words of two of the great poets from that era, Binyon and Sassoon, written on it. The hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) trees in the grove at this memorial have all been grown from seed from the only hornbeam tree left standing after the Battle of Delville Wood on the Somme. This tree still grows on the Somme today.

Staying with the First World War and moving to the Riverside Zone, there is the evocative Shot at Dawn Memorial. Over 300 soldiers were shot for various ‘offences’, including cowardice, during this war. History has shown that many were underage soldiers and probably suffering from what is now known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This memorial is a statue based on a real-life solder, Private Herbert Burden, who was shot aged just 17. Facing it are six cypress (Cupressus sempervirens) trees, representing the firing squad.

The Suez Veterans Association Memorial with its palm trees.

Equally as thought-provoking in the Riverside Zone, and bringing the loss of British troops right up-to-date, is the Camp Bastion Wall and Willow Trees. The one at the arboretum is a very close copy of the actual memorial that stood at the camp in Afghanistan. There are a series of black granite plaques containing the names of the 456 men and women who were killed in this conflict. A curving line of weeping willow (Fraxinus excelsior ‘Pendula’) trees connects this memorial to the Basra Wall memorial.

Giant redwoods once again feature at the Household Division Memorial, which commemorates the five regiments of Foot Guards in the Household Division. It is an impressive stone plinth with a copy of the railings from Chelsea Barracks on top, attached to which are the five badges of each of the Foot Guard regiments. The choice of redwoods, or Wellingtonia trees, to complement this memorial is quite straightforward when you consider the Duke of Wellington’s involvement with the guard regiments back during the Napoleonic wars.

It is not the trees themselves, but the colours of their leaves, at the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) Memorial that enhance it. The trees here all have distinctive red and gold leaves and are individually dedicated to members of RAMC, with memorial plinths at both ends of an avenue of purple-leaved trees in remembrance to those members of the corps who won Victoria Crosses.

The Royal Army Medical Corps Memorial, where red- and gold-leaved tree species have been used. There are trees dedicated individually with a plaque to members of the corps who have won Victoria Crosses.

The Beat Zone has a number of memorials associated with police, but it also has some other interesting memorials and trees. There is an impressive avenue of trees called The Beat (Police Memorial Avenue) here with a tree planted to represent every police force in the country. Horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastanum) trees were chosen for this avenue because police truncheons in the early days of the ‘peelers’, as the police were known, were made from this tree species. London plane (Platanus x hispanica) trees have subsequently been planted in this location to replace some of the horse chestnut trees. In the nearby Police Memorial Garden, a horse chestnut tree is to be found that was grown from a conker that came from Drayton Manor. This was once home to Robert Peel, who was responsible for the founding of what became the modern-day police force.

There is a Golden Grove of trees and shrubs located in The Beat, which have been planted to recognise couples from the  World War II era that have celebrated their golden wedding anniversaries. The first tree was planted to commemorate the anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. Malus, sorbus, and golden-stemmed ash have been used in this area to project the golden-yellow colours required.

The Royal Tank Regiment Grove with its ash trees. The predominant tree species at Cambrai in France was ash trees. This was the site of one of the first major successful tank battles.

Another memorial of interest to me on my visit was the Royal Tank Regiment Grove. This, again, was because of a family connection; a relation who drove a tank in the First World War. Once more, it is ash trees that are used here. Firstly, because the officers of the regiment used to have their swagger sticks made from ash. Secondly, because it was the predominant tree species at Cambrai in France, where tanks were first successfully used in a battle. Some of the trees here are actually propagated from ash trees growing in Cambrai. There is also an oak tree, which has been grown from an acorn taken from Delville Wood. The memorial consists of a brick plinth with a model of a Mark V heavy tank on top of it.

Yeomanry Avenue with its mixture of lime trees.

While all the memorials and the trees associated with them have been chosen carefully and have a connection, this is nowhere more relevant than in the Garden of the Innocents. Here, the tree in the centre of the garden is an elder (Sambucus nigra). The garden, which has a number of raised beds shaped like jigsaw pieces that do not connect together, to symbolise the confusion of children, has this tree as a memorial to Anne Frank. Poignantly, each year on the 12th of June, her birthday, the blossoms of this tree are cut to stop it bearing fruit, symbolising the fact that Anne’s young life was cut short and she never reached the maturity of adulthood.

Trees are used so well at the National Memorial Arboretum to help support the stories of the various memorials and what they stand for. It is an amazing place to visit and one that leaves visitors not only inspired but also informed about the need to remember so many different people who have given so much for their country. It is fitting that there is this living tribute for people to visit and honour them.