Leicestershire's Armed Forces Day celebration moved online for second year

Coronavirus restrictions mean that the traditional service, parade and flag-raising cannot take place as normal.

Instead, the city and county councils, together with the Lieutenancy office and local armed forces units, have again worked together to come up with an alternative way to celebrate Armed Forces Day.

The national event takes place on Saturday 26 June this year, when the nation comes together to show its appreciation and support for those within the armed forces community including serving troops and their families, reservists, veterans and cadets.

A new webpage has been created, with content playing tribute to our armed forces, including a video from the Lord-Lieutenant’s Army Cadet Lance Corporal Saxon Nugent, footage from the 2019 Armed Forces Day parade and a link to the livestream of the service which will be hosted in Leicester Cathedral on 26 June.

The traditional flag-raising ceremony at County Hall has been pre-recorded and a link is available on the webpage.

This year, the flag was raised by Phil Walden, chairman of Leicestershire and Rutland Royal British Legion, in the presence of just 20 people, representing serving armed forces personnel and veterans.

Leicestershire is also supporting the national #SaluteOurForces campaign, which calls on people from all walks of life to post pictures and videos of them saluting in tribute. 

The new webpage has lots of fascinating facts about the history of the salute, as well as short video clips from members of all three services demonstrating the subtle differences between their salutes.

The Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, Mike Kapur OBE, said; “We are delighted to be running the #SaluteOurForces campaign again this year. After so much success in 2020, and engagement from so many people across Leicester and Leicestershire, we are looking forward to putting together another impressive and diverse virtual parade.

“This is a simple way for all of us to pay tribute to our local armed forces, not just for what they are doing currently, but for all their hard work, dedication and efforts to keep us safe in the UK and across the globe.”