Captain Sir Tom Moore honoured at National Memorial Arboretum

There have been requests for the National Memorial Arboretum to recognise Captain Sir Tom Moore

Part of the National Memorial Arboretum has been named in memory of Captain Sir Tom Moore.

The Staffordshire arboretum had been sent requests to honour the fundraiser and the idea to name a pathway after him came from a volunteer.

The length of Captain Sir Tom Moore Way and a connecting path to the Burma Star Memorial is 250 metres, the distance he walked every day on his challenge.

He raised millions of pounds for the NHS by walking 100 laps of his garden.

The location of the path, in the Far East area of the arboretum, was suggested because Captain Sir Tom was awarded the Burma Star for his service in the Burma campaign during World War Two.

Philippa Rawlinson, Managing Director of the National Memorial Arboretum, said: "It offers a new way for us to help engage visitors and encourage them to discover some of the incredible stories from the often-overlooked campaigns in the Far East during the Second World War."

Captain Sir Tom Moore Way will be used by visitors walking to the Burma Star memorial

The volunteer behind the footpath idea said it would be the "perfect tribute"

The idea of renaming the footpath came from Tony Matthews, a Gulf War and Northern Ireland veteran who has volunteered at the arboretum in Alrewas for 15 years.

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He is also chairman of the National Memorial Arboretum branch of the Royal British Legion and said: "Lots of people were keen for us to find an appropriate way to show our thanks.

"I realised this previously unnamed road in a part of the arboretum so closely linked to his wartime service would make for the perfect tribute."

Captain Sir Tom, who found fame for his fundraising efforts during the first coronavirus lockdown, died in hospital on 2 February after testing positive for Covid-19.

He walked 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden before his 100th birthday, raising more than £32m for the NHS.

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