This August, RoadPeace is inviting families to remember loved ones killed on our roads at the annual RoadPeace Wood service at the National Memorial Arboretum on Saturday 10th August at 2.30pm.
The ceremony will begin with a service in the Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness followed by a short ceremony at the RoadPeace Wood. Names of all those being remembered will be read out from oak leaves. It is also an opportunity to meet others who have been similarly bereaved and visit the RoadPeace Wood, where trees are dedicated to road crash victims. More information can be downloaded here.
The National Memorial Arboretum was founded as a place where the lives of people could be remembered by living trees that would grow and mature in a world at peace. It is a 150 acre site on the edge of the National Forest at Alrewas, Staffordshire.
Planting began in 1997 and plots and groves have been created for armed and merchant services, police and emergency services and many groups, associations and individuals. The site also celebrated the turn of a new century and the Millennium Chapel of Peace and Forgiveness offers tranquillity and reflection for all.
The RoadPeace Wood is part of this memorial with trees that are individually sponsored to remember those who have lost their lives or been injured because of a road crash.
Planting of trees in the RoadPeace Wood began in spring 2001 and the wood was dedicated on 10 August 2002.
August National Road Victim Month
The Ceremony of Remembrance at the Wood is one of the activities taking place during August National Road Victim Month.
August was designated National Road Victim Month by RoadPeace after Diana, Princess of Wales was killed in a crash in 1997. She was killed on 31 August, the same day as the world’s first motor vehicle victim, Mary Ward, was killed in Ireland in 1869. Britain’s first road death also occurred in August, when Bridget Driscoll was killed in Crystal Palace on 17 August 1896, with the coroner pronouncing “this must never happen again”.
Updated on: 19 July 2019