Armed Forces Day countdown
The work and sacrifice of
Britain’s Armed Forces will once again be recognised in Scarborough
this summer.
More than 10,000 people are expected to
gather on the Foreshore for the town’s third Armed Forces Day on
Saturday 25 June.
A programme of displays and entertainment
is now being finalised, which will include a breathtaking
aeronautical display by the renowned Blades team who are all ex-Red
Arrows pilots, a 15 minute display of the Battle of Britain
Memorial Flight Lancaster Bomber, a veterans’ parade along the
seafront and a host of stalls, events and activities aimed at all
the family.
This year’s event is being hosted and
organised by Scarborough Borough Borough Council, in partnership
with the Heroes Welcome initiative, South Bay Traders Association,
Royal British Legion, SSAFA Forces Help and the RNLI, with
financial support from local businessman Don Robinson’s Winston
Churchill’s Britain at War Experience in London, the Ministry of
Defence and the borough council.
Local authority project officer Rowena
Marsden said: “The spectacle of last year’s Armed Forces Day in
Scarborough and the support from people in the town and further
afield is spurring us on to make this year’s event just as
eye-catching.
“The parade of 300 serving soldiers last
year showed the high esteem our Armed Forces are held in and we are
eager to reflect that in the displays we are arranging. We hope we
have come up with a programme that not only honours or Armed
Forces, past, present and future, but one which will also be
appealing and entertaining for the whole family.”
This year’s Armed Forces Day activities
will centre on Foreshore Road and are set to begin at noon, with a
march by the Band of the Yorkshire Volunteers to St Nicholas
Gardens before the Mayor officially opens the event from the
balcony below.
Veterans will be presented with special
Veterans’ Badges and citations will be read out before the Blades
display takes place over Scarborough’s South Bay, with HMS Explorer
in the sea below.
The Band of the Yorkshire Volunteers are
then set to march along Foreshore Road to the RNLI boathose, with
the Lancaster bomber display due to take place less than an hour
later.
Following that, a joint exercise at sea
between HMS Explorer, lifeboat crews serving with the Scarborough
branch of the RNLI and a Sea King helicopter is being planned,
though exact details are still to be arranged.
Another highlight is also being finalised –
a parade of veterans which will be led by the Band of Yorkshire
Volunteers followed by the standards, veterans, cadets, Scouts and
Guides with the Royal British Legion Riders Branch bringing up the
rear on Harley Davidsons and Honda Goldwings. The salute will be
taken at St Nicholas Gardens.
Presentations are likely to come towards
the end of the celebrations, with HMS Explorer thought to be
reaffirming its allegiance to Scarborough, before a service of
thanksgiving, led by the Rev Martyn Dunning from St Mary’s Church
takes place and the event draws to a close.
John Senior, co-ordinator of the Heroes
Welcome scheme which recognises the work of our Armed Forces
through discounts for ex and current military personnel at
participating restaurants, hotels, shops and tourist attractions,
said: “Armed Forces Day is the community’s day to say ‘thank you’
to our service personnel and veterans. It is because of them that
will live in a free and democratic land, enjoying the privileges
that so many citizens in other countries are now fighting for.”
John Anderson, secretary of the Scarborough
branch of the Royal British Legion said: “It is important for the
younger generations to understand the sacrifices made by our Armed
Forces, past and present.
“Though they might find war and conflict abhorrent, it should
always be remembered that it is our Armed Forces personnel who are
laying their lives on the line, often to uphold the freedoms and
values that we as British citizens often take for granted.”