Our parents‘ generation spent much time and effort raising memorials to their comrades who had died in conflict. The present generation had done little to acknowledge the great sacrifice that a whole nation had been willing to make to guarantee that we would live in peace and freedom. Fifty years after the end of the Second World War it seemed right to create a living tribute that would for ever acknowledge that unrepayable debt. The Arboretum, while paying tribute to a whole generation, was able to remind people of the 80 million lives lost in the conflicts of the 20th Century.

Nothing would have happened to the idea had he not then become influenced by conversations with Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC CH DSO** DFC, the founder of the eponymous homes and services, who expressed concern that the debt that was owed to those who had died in the wars of the twentieth century might be forgotten. The Arboretum seemed to be a way to address Leonard Cheshire‘s concerns.

The Appeal to create The Arboretum was launched by the then Prime Minister, John Major, in November 1994. At the time the project had no money and no land. The latter was provided by the generous gifting of 82 acres of reclaimed gravel working alongside the banks of the River Tame, by Redland (now Lafarge) Aggregates. This gift has now been extended to a further 70 acres, including the wildlife lake.

Finally the project was first supported by the armed services and veterans‘ associations but the first planting, in the Spring of 1997, was funded by a grant from The National Forest, within whose boundary The Arboretum lies. The initiative was then shortlisted for a Millennium Commission grant of £1.8M provided such a sum could be match funded. It was, and the result is the Visitor Centre and the country‘s only Millennium Chapel.