Record crowds gathered in Scarborough for the town's biggest ever Armed Forces Day air show, which featured military parades, charity stalls, and vital community initiatives.
Thousands of people packed the Scarborough seafront area on Saturday for the town's biggest ever air show, which took place as part of the Armed Forces Day celebrations.
Scarborough and Whitby MP Alison Hume paid tribute:
" I think it's really important to remember we got a lot of veterans here, and they live in Scarborough, and I'm really proud to represent them. And of course, they're the past, but the cadets are the future. And then all of the adult volunteers passing on their skills, it's absolutely wonderful. And we've got the, the Sea Cadets from Belgium who are special guests, and I met them earlier. And they said they were completely blown away by the scale of our Armed Forces Day. So I think they do one there, but it's not as big. But, you know, people come from all over the world, and that's just wonderful to see."
The major event brought massive crowds to the Yorkshire Coast, with visitors gathering to watch the extensive aerial displays and show their support for military personnel. In addition to the aircraft, the day featured official parades marching through the town and numerous stalls lining the seafront.
Among the many stalls set up for the thousands of attendees was Dandelion, a charity dedicated to supporting the children of military service personnel.
The organisation provides a range of resources designed to help young people cope with the unique challenges of having parents in the armed forces, particularly when families are separated by long military operations.
Elise Norris from the charity Dandelion explained the importance of their work and detailed the specific educational and emotional resources they offer to service families:
"So we've got stories and products to support service children to help them navigate through forces life for when parents are away and deployed for long periods of time over Christmas time. We've got personalised diaries about them for them. We've got activity books where they can colour it in as they go through the process of deployment and storybooks that we can have in homes which we also provide as school packages as well. The kind of themes of the story is about emotional literacy and building that in a really natural, relatable story and narrative and allow a space for parents to be able to support them in that as well so it's not quite as intense in just sitting them down and having a chat like how do you feel about mum or dad being away. It just allows them to bring up what they're thinking and feeling during that story time."
Alongside the military celebrations, the large crowds enjoying the Scarborough coast also prompted important reminders about protecting local marine wildlife.
The multi-agency initiative Operation Seabird used the busy Armed Forces Day event as an opportunity to educate the public about the seals, dolphins, and other marine animals that inhabit the waters off the Yorkshire Coast.
The organisation works to ensure that the influx of visitors to the coast does not disturb the natural routines of the local wildlife, particularly when the animals are feeding just offshore.
Jeff Edmund from the multi-agency Operation Seabird highlighted a possible whale sighting off Whitby earlier in the day and urged the public to act responsibly:
"Great to see so many people out in Scarborough. Great to see people enjoying the weather. But of course we've also got seals, we've got dolphins. There's been a sight, impossible sight of a whale this morning off Whitby. We want people to really understand what these animals do, protect them, stay a safe distance, enjoy them but keep them safe in their own environment. We're all here today enjoying the beach, they're out there feeding as they are every day. [We're] so lucky in Scarborough to see all this wildlife. Let's look after it, let's be responsible for it."
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