A World War II Lancaster Bomber will fly over Leeds this weekend as part of the city’s armed forces day celebrations.
On Saturday, July 2, the city will host its Armed Forces Day celebrations. Armed Forces Day is a celebration of the military, its serving troops, reserves and veterans.
The day will be kicked off by a parade by the West Yorkshire Police Band, who will march from Albion Street to Briggate which will be lined with stalls, activities and displays. This will include a full-scale replica Spitfire fighters, which successfully defended the country during the 1940 Battle of Britain.
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The event is set to go on between 10am and 4pm and there will also be stalls set up by veterans groups and military charities and performances of both contemporary and traditional music. The singing and dancing Daisy Bells will also perform.
However, one of the big highlights of the day will be a fly past by an RAF Lancaster Bomber which will fly over Briggate three times around 2.02pm. According to Leeds City Council, they will perform a ‘wing-waggle’ on the final pass.
The Lord Mayor of Leeds, Robert W. Gettings, said he was “delighted and honoured” to be hosting the events this Saturday. He added he was “extremely proud” the Queen’s representative, HM Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Mr Ed Anderson would join him in taking the salute after the parade.
He said: “As a city, we are extremely proud of our long and distinguished military history and of our current armed forces personnel who work in various deployments at home and abroad – addressing emergencies, providing security and supporting numerous initiatives in dangerous situations, with great dedication and professionalism.
"It is wonderful therefore that through Leeds Armed Forces Day we can come together and say a big thank you to our service men and women. I would like to offer a big thank you to everyone taking part and who has contributed to the organisation of what has rightly become one of our city’s most popular events in the civic calendar.”
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