Asda Volunteers give back to Coventry's Roman Heritage

01 November 2013

A couple of weeks ago the Roman soldiers at Lunt Fort were pleased to receive a £50 cheque from Asda!

The donation came from one of Asda Whitley store's Community Life Campaigns, in which the public decide which local charity to support and donate to each month.

The store's Community Life Champion Kim Evans picked the Lunt as one of their chosen charities, and over the course of a month, the shop’s customers used their Green Tokens to vote on how much money should be donated to each of three charities.

This financial donation comes after volunteers from the store, as well as Team 104 from the Prince's Trust at Henley College, set out to paint and preserve the Lunt's gyrus, the only Roman horse training arena in Europe, earlier this year.

The volunteers spent two days painting the 34.06m diameter arena with a wood preservative, which will help to protect and conserve it for generations to come.

Kim Evans, Community Life Champion at Asda in Whitley, said, “I had a wonderful time at the Roman Weekend at the Lunt, and was impressed by what an incredible historical resource it is for people in our local area. It struck me that by mobilising an army of volunteers to get this work done, we could make a massive difference to the site in just a couple of days.”

The Roman soldier who received the cheque from the Asda store, said, "It is encouraging that so many volunteers from Coventry, the Prince's Trust and Asda have worked hard to preserve this unique reconstruction. All the staff are very grateful for the Asda volunteers' generosity and kindness, and the donation will go towards preserving the Fort as part of Coventry's heritage."

For more information about the gyrus at the Lunt Roman Fort please visit: www.luntromanfort.org