Membership Secretary:- 24 Park Road, Alrewas, Staffs, DE13 7AG
Tel No 01283 791218. Email: arboretum@dlaproduction.co.uk
Please note new email address

Newsletter Editor: Anne Smith
41 Bradgate Drive, Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield
West Midlands, B74 4XG
Tel/Fax: 0121-352-0273
E-mail: twocats@btinternet.com

Website address: http://www.friendsofnma.org.uk

Winter Newsletter 2007

Please also note: There are a large number of photographs in this Newsletter. To save download time these are mainly shown as thumbnails. If you would like to see larger pictures in a separate window, then just click on the thumbnail. The pictures can be seen in a gallery at the bottom of the page. Most were taken at the dedication of the Armed Forces Memorial.

Dear Friends,
You will see that we are trying out a new format for the newsletter and I hope that it meets with your approval and you enjoy it as always. I make no apologies for concentrating on our two major events in this newsletter and as there is plenty of general news as well I will start straight away.

As most of you will know because of television coverage, Autumn at the Arboretum has been an exciting time for all of us with the dedication and opening of the Armed Forces Memorial being the focus of attention only to be followed very closely by the Remembrance Day Service in November. The volume of visitors since October has just been overwhelming and shows no signs of slowing down.

Dedication and Opening of the Armed Forces Memorial
The day for the Friends began very, very early in the morning (we had to be there by 6.30 am) but fortunately we were greeted with the lovely smell of breakfast being cooked, so we all sat down to our bacon & egg/sausage butties before starting on a long day. The Arboretum had laid on a small tourist train to run people to and from the car park and we all had fun riding on that as it took us to our various areas of work. I was stationed in the main Arboretum car park overseeing the arrival of our many guests by bus and if any of you arrived that way I can only thank you for your patience and understanding, especially those who arrived very close to the start time for the dedication which then commenced with the arrival of Her Majesty the Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall plus, of course, various other very important dignitaries. The dedication itself, led by the Archbishop of Canterbury, was very, very emotional with music by the RAF Central Band, Winchester Cathedral Choristers and the All Angels. Georgina Chapman, daughter of Darren Chapman who was killed in Iraq, read a letter she had written to her father and Gavin Lloyd, who read a letter that had been left by his brother Richard Lloyd, who died in a peacekeeping mission to Bosnia, for the family to read in the event of his death. The Royal Party then spent quite a long time on the memorial itself talking to families of individuals named on the walls and others associated with its construction. There was then a walk about by the Royal Party who met and talked to many more of the families who had been invited to attend. There was a wonderful flyby by which included a bevy of helicopters, a Tornado, Hercules, Nimrod & Typhoon but unfortunately because the cloud base was very low the parachute drop could not take place. The Royal Signals Band were playing in the large marquee and did a wonderful job with all the old time songs and big band music.

The day ended with visitors being allowed up on to the Memorial after which, as you know, the Arboretum was shut to enable work to be completed on the memorial and surrounding Arboretum and filming to take place for the excellent programme which was shown on television on the 4th of November.

Since that time there have been several programmes on television which have featured the AFM and, as I said earlier, this has culminated in, on average, a thousand visitors a day and on the 29th of October we had the Official Opening of the AFM to the public.

Service of Remembrance : 11th November 2007
This was another long day for the Friends but again we were refreshed with bacon butties and coffee (there is always a reward for an early start). There had been a worry that this would clash with local events and the service in Whitehall as this year it took place on a Sunday but, once again, the Arboretum overflowed with visitors. This was a simple service, but again very emotional.

The music was supplied by the West Midlands Police Brass Band and Corps of Drums together with The Warwickshire Band and the soloist, Abigail Rhodes, had the most wonderful voice. The sun hit the �hole in the wall‘ at exactly the right time and landed directly on the laurel wreath in the middle of the memorial, just as the designer of the memorial intended it should, and during the ceremony there were many wreaths laid on the central plinth. At the end of the service we had a flyby by a Dakota and a Nimrod.

A LETTER FROM CHARLES BAGOT-JEWITT TO ALL THE FRIENDS
It has been the most amazing time at the NMA. We have had over 25,000 visitors in November, broken through the 100,000 visitor barrier for the year, played a major part in a State Occasion and delivered a moving Remembrance Sunday Service attended by several thousand. The Archbishop of Canterbury, The Prime Minister, The Secretary of State for Defence and his deputy, and no less than six members of the Royal family have visited in the last two months. How many places in the country could attract that sort of attention?!

One comment I have heard consistently is that "your Friends, staff and volunteers are amazing" - and so you are. That everyone has kept cheerful and committed under a huge amount of pressure has been wonderful and I and the Trustees are deeply, deeply grateful. Thank you.

I hope now that our numbers will return to slightly more manageable proportions, although a sunny day still seems to bring out a goodly number and I am sure many will wish to visit over the Christmas period. The Christmas launch, with Santa and his Reindeer coming on 7 Dec, promises to be very busy too.

I am trying now to work on a sustainable future strategy of staffing and infrastructure that will cope with our new found fame. We have just launched the future foundations appeal, an appeal to 'high net worth's' (jargon for people with very deep pockets!) which we hope will lead to significant capital investment. However, revenue funding remains a huge problem as our grant in aid has fallen far behind the sum that is needed to support the visitor numbers we are now experiencing and although the shop and restaurant are doing really well, they cannot be expected to make good the whole shortfall. What do we do now? I am a great believer that fortune favours those who are prepared to help themselves. We therefore need to do everything we can to raise revenue and to strengthen our hand if we are to gain any additional external financial support. We will introduce a trial car park donation of £2 in the new year (with £10 season ticket) and need to look at ways in which we can improve our outreach and fundraising external to the site. We also need to ensure that our recruitment and training of staff and volunteers works towards best practise elsewhere. Rome won't be built in a day, but I am sure that with the excellent foundations laid at the NMA over the last 10 years we can move forward to the next few hundred with great confidence!

A very happy Christmas to you all.

FRIEND OF THE YEAR 2007
The Committee have made a decision but we are going to keep you in suspense until we present the award at the AGM in March. Watch this space!!

MEMBERSHIP RENEWAL
It's that time of year again when we enclose a request for renewal of your membership. We do hope that you will continue your support and, also, spread the word of the activities of the Arboretum to all your friends. Please return the completed form, together with your cheque (made payable to Friends of The National Memorial Arboretum), to Roger Davies-Lee, Membership Secretary, 24 Park Road, Alrewas, Staffordshire, DE13 7AG, Tel: 01283-791218.

PUBLICITY
We would, of course, still like to hear from you if you know of any other associations or parish magazines which would welcome news about us. So please let Lawrie Walford have a contact name and e-mail address. His details are Tel: 01283-791857 E-mail: lawriew@globalnet.co.uk

LEST WE FORGET - BY LAWRIE WALFORD
On 19th August 1995, as a member of the Aircrew Association, I was privileged to attend a service marking VJ Day in Lichfield Cathedral. Before the service begun, I was able to marvel at the faith and skill of the original builders of the Cathedral. The gleaming medals on the chests of some of the members of the congregation proclaimed their faith, skill and bravery in so many different fields. The stirring sermon was given by The Reverend Prebendary Robert Cheadle M.B.E., TD. and was most graphic. At the end, many were in tears and there was spontaneous applause from all of us. He described how, in the early days of the war, his family lived by Keele Hall all woods and park and no neighbours. Until -----Dunkirk . Then, they had neighbours. They had come straight off the beaches, grey with exhaustion and with no rifles or equipment. His mother made endless cups of tea and there were men asleep all over the house. Then, something remarkable happened. There was a broadcast---- The broadcast was of a long poem called The Ballad of the White Horse, by G.K Chesterton, all about King Alfred and his struggle to save England from the Danes. The parallels were obvious, that there are things worth dying for because there are things worth fighting for and living for. It moved Robert to tears at the time as the poem was describing what was happening in fact. When Robert went into the Army, his mother bought him the collected poems of G.K Chesterton. He carried it throughout his service and read it regularly. Bent after five years in his kit bag, he told us he had it still and held it aloft. When he became an Army glider pilot, the words from the poem rang in his ears at the thought of an airborne landing in Japan ------ " Naught for your comfort, Naught for your desire " summed up his feelings exactly.