A £600,000 fundraising appeal is aiming to create a ‘haven of remembrance’ at the Guards Museum – within the Wellington Barracks site near Buckingham Palace in London.
Soil taken from battlefields in France and Belgium will be used in the proposed Flanders Field Memorial Garden, designed by Belgian landscape architect Piet Blanckaert and backed by a match funding pledge from the Government of Flanders.
‘We hope the momentum of the fundraising appeal will also help to raise awareness of the forthcoming centenary,’ said Geert de Proost, the authority’s representative in the UK.
‘The Guards Museum is the ideal location, because it is the home of five of the most famous British regiments and attracts many visitors.
‘This is the opportunity for organisations or individuals to pledge a contribution, however small, to bring this project to fruition.’
Organisers are hoping to open the garden in July 2014.
First World War Centenary, 1914-1918 