Armed Forces Memorial at Alrewas

I found time yesterday to visit the Arboretum at Alrewas which is only a 30 minute drive away, I have visited many times since attending the tree planting ceremony back in 2001.

The site has come on in leaps and bounds since then and tomorrow (Friday 24th April) a visit is due by Prince William to launch a new appeal for funds.

Here are some photos I took yesterday, starting with the Arethusa tree....


This is a shot of the new (2007)Armed Forces Memorial, which is dedicated to all those who died on duty since the end of WW2.



The walls are inscribed with the names of casualties in date order.




Through these slots in the walls the sun will shed a beam of light on the 11th hour of the 11th day of November which casts a light on a wreath at the centre of the memorial.




When I first saw this memorial last year I was quite shocked by the number of names of those lost during so-called peace-time and also by the amount of space left for future losses....

A few more nice photos of F38 arrived this week via email with the following text....

Sending you a couple you might want, I took them in 1982 off the Minches, we had an American exchange pilot flying the Wasp and he was a plain nutcase, thought he was still in Vietnam. I have some posed crew photos from the same era somewhere, will have a hunt for them.



We were sent to STANAVFORLANT at the outbreak of the Falklands to relieve a Type 21 so she could go south, moral was appalling and culminated in a mutiny when we left Sniffle, the skipper would not let us perform the usual antics and ordered us to line the ship in Procedure Alpha and cheer ship, we refused and had to skulk off back to the UK without any leaving ceremony at all. Thankfully they replaced him with a guy who was a total star.



Crew of HMS Arethusa, think this was 1983 on the way to Fort Lauderdale.



Mike Loring HMS Arethusa 1982-1984 LWEM(R) - APOWEM(R) Ikara Tracking and Guidance Maintainer Operator

Again we have a blogger who served on the ship and asking about reunions. If these bloggers get in touch with me (address on web site) I can send them info. The next reunion is in Criccieth, North Wales, on the weekend of 2-5 October 2009. Booking forms from Hon. Sec. (Tom Sawyer)