Love Island star praises Staffordshire's proposed Covid memorial

Amber Gill visited the arboretum for the Amazing Starts Here podcast, which sees her sharing stories from ordinary people who do extraordinary things with the help of the £30 million raised every week for good causes thanks to players of The National Lottery.

The Arboretum pays tribute to those in the Armed Forces and emergency services, as well as communities that might ordinarily feel like remembrance isn't for them or about them.

For the final episode of the six-part series, Amber spoke to volunteers from the National Memorial Arboretum about plans to create a new 25-acre woodland to pay tribute to the key workers lost during the pandemic.

Phillipa Rawlinson, managing director of the Arboretum, said: “We are here to mark loss of life in service of our country, and so many people served our country during the pandemic, whether they be in the NHS or care.

“People working in supermarkets were putting themselves in risk, and people driving public transport. My sister's a teacher; she was putting herself at risk when she went back to schools. It's absolutely right that we would recognise their service.

“I love the idea that the backdrop to the stories and the memorials that will get placed into this new landscape will have this changing backdrop of woodland and water because the trees will be rustling and growing, and the water will change colour and respond. And I think that will just be a really lovely, peaceful, inspiring space for people to be.”

Podcast host Amber Rose-Gill said: “The remembrance stories that I heard that day blew my mind.

“Every minute detail at the arboretum has been well thought out, whether it's the symbolism of the trees and flowers around the memorials that tell another layer of the story or the volunteers helping people explore those stories even further.

“It’s all thanks to the National Lottery Players, who raise £30 million per week for good causes like the National Memorial Arboretum.”

The Arboretum has sought to reflect experiences of living in lockdown over the last few years and has plans to memorialise the thousands of people lost to Covid-19 during the pandemic.

In 2020, the Arboretum worked with the National Portrait Gallery on an exhibition called Hold Still, which showcased photographs of people's experiences of the pandemic.

Last year they announced the Lockdown Landscapes project, which will seek to explore how people connected with their local green spaces during the pandemic and will culminate in an exhibition in summer 2023.

Chris Ansell, Head of Participation and Learning at the Arboretum, said: “We are the nation's place to remember, and the nation includes all the communities that call this nation home.”

The full series of Amazing Starts Here is available to stream here: omny.fm/shows/amazing-starts-here.