Symbolic poppy fields provided a fitting backcloth last Friday when a £1 million First World War fundraising challenge was launched at Heartwood Forest in Sandridge.

Dozens of army and air cadets from the St Albans School Combined Cadet Force gathered at the forest to show their backing for the Woodland Trust project to honour those who fell in the First World War.

The aim of the charity’s Centenary Woods First World War Project is to create four centenary woods, one in each of the four home nations, where thousands of trees will be planted.

Cadets are aiming to raise more than £1 million through fundraising for the ambitious project which will span the four years of the war centenary.

Although Heartwood is not one of the chosen sites for a centenary wood – the nearest will be Epsom in Surrey – it was chosen for the launch of the cadets’ fundraising challenge because it is a good example of how the First World War Centenary Woods will develop in the first decade once the land is acquired and planted.

Woodland Trust chief executive Beccy Speight said: “It is fitting that the cadets, some of who will be a similar age to those who went to war, should be among the surroundings of Heartwood where there are lots of poppies – the symbol of war remembrance of course.”