Navy Minesweeper and RAF Parachute Team to Deliver Flags to Scarborough for Start of Armed Forces Day Week

Flag Flying Ceremonies on Monday will Mark the Start of Armed Forces Day Week of Celebrations.

People throughout the borough are invited to show their respect for the UK Armed Forces at flag raising ceremonies, involving the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force in Filey, Scarborough and Whitby next week.

The ceremonies will take place on the morning of Monday 20 June to mark the start of the Armed Forces Day week of celebrations, which culminates in the Armed Forces Day national event in Scarborough on Saturday 25 June.

There will be a special delivery of the ‘Armed Forces Day show your support’ flags to Scarborough via sea, land and air.

The Royal Navy Hunt-class mine counter-measures vessel, HMS Brocklesby, will transport one of the flags to the town’s South Bay for the morning of 20 June. At 9.30am, Royal Navy divers will bring the flag from the ship to the beach.

Shortly after 10am, Scarborough Sea Cadets will collect the flag from the divers on the beach and relay it across Foreshore Road and up through St Nicholas gardens. It will be delivered to the Mayor of the Borough of Scarborough, Councillor Eric Broadbent, at the Town Hall.

The flag flying ceremony will start at 10.20am at the Town Hall gardens in St Nicholas Street. In attendance will be the Mayor and Mayoress, Royal Navy personnel, veterans, standard bearers, representatives of the Royal British Legion, cadets and invited guests. The event is a public event; residents and visitors to the town are encouraged to attend.

Tom Fox will act as compère and prayers will be led by the Mayor’s chaplain, Reverend Richard Walker.

The ‘Armed Forces Day show your support flag’ will be raised above the roof of the Town Hall at 10.30am, as it will be at three other locations in the borough and throughout the country.

Another flag will be raised at Scarborough Castle during a private event following a special delivery into the castle grounds by a Royal Navy parachute team.

A British Army led flag raising event at Whitby Dock End will start at 10.10am.

The four person Force Atlantic team, on board the yacht in which they finished the Talisker Whisky Atlantic Challenge in 2021, will form a flotilla in the harbour alongside the town’s RNLI lifeboat and local rowing boats.

Two Army vehicles will be present at Dock End following a journey from The Defence School of Transport at Leconfield, via Runswick Bay and Sandsend.

The public event will be attended by the Mayor of Whitby, Army personnel, veterans, standard bearers, cadets and local school children.

As part of a community project managed by Animated Objects Theatre Company in support of the Armed Forces Day national event, more than 150 school children will parade from Pannett Park at 9.45am, through the town centre to Dock End for the ceremony.

Filey will host a Royal Air Force (RAF) led flag raising ceremony in Crescent Gardens. The Mayor of Filey will attend the event alongside RAF personnel. The flag will be raised at 10.30am followed by a flypast by an aircraft from the joint Hawk Squadron based at RAF Leeming, known as 11 Squadron, Qatari Emiri Air Force (QEAF).

Looking ahead to the flag raising ceremonies, the Mayor of the Borough of Scarborough, Councillor Eric Broadbent, said:

“It is always an honour and privilege to pay tribute to the Armed Forces community at the start of Armed Forces Day week and this year will be particularly special as we make our final preparations to host the prestigious national event.

“The flag raising ceremonies are a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the work and dedication of everyone who serves and has served in the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force, but also remember those who paid the ultimate sacrifice in past conflicts.

“I invite people of all generations to attend the ceremonies in Filey, Scarborough and Whitby to show their support and appreciation.”

Commodore Phil Waterhouse, Naval Regional Commander for Northern England and the Joint Military Commander for the Armed Forces Day national event, said:

“This is a very proud moment for the people of Scarborough and myself as a proud Yorkshireman, to see the Armed Forces Day national event in the town and wider borough.

“We have all worked hard to prepare for the week and it is set to be one we shall all remember for a very long time to come.”