Families hope to meet once a year to remember their loved ones

Two acres of the Scar and Castlebeck Woods have been donated to the Human BSE Foundation by the Woodland Trust to become a living memorial.

More than 140 people have died from vCJD since 1996, according to figures from the foundation.

The memorial was the idea of Dot and Dave Churchill from Wiltshire whose son Stephen was the first UK vCJD victim.

It is hoped the area will be used by families and friends of victims to remember their loved ones.

Francis Hall, secretary of the Human BSE Foundation, said the site would be a welcome memorial.

"It was very important for the families who've lost a loved one to a dreadful disease that we had some central point in dedication to our loved ones," she said.

"It's somewhere we can gather once a year to remember our loved ones in a peaceful setting where things are still growing - something our children who died weren't allowed to do."