Celebrate our heroes from home this Armed Forces Day

Residents are being urged to recognise the contribution of service men and women on Armed Forces Day this Saturday (27 June), which will be celebrated online.

Armed Forces personnel are continuing to play a key role in supporting the NHS during the coronavirus pandemic. They have been carrying out frontline tasks such as staffing mobile testing sites, working in the ambulance service and delivering life-saving PPE equipment.

The North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum (NYLRF) has relied on service personnel to deliver urgent PPE to locations across the county. It was provided with a stockpile to respond to urgent demand across the county until new national ordering became established.

The PPE is mainly intended for Adult Social Care, but can be used by other critical wider public services such as primary care providers, prisons, care homes, funeral directors, dentists and GPs.

“Military personnel have been playing a leading role in our response to the coronavirus pandemic,” said County Council Leader Councillor Carl Les. “Their hard work and dedication has been indispensable to the national effort in keeping us safe. Recognition of their contribution is more deserved than ever.

“From staffing testing sites across the county to delivering PPE to some of North Yorkshire’s most rural communities, we are incredibly grateful for what they do.”

In North Yorkshire, more than 12,000 people work for the Ministry of Defence (about 4 per cent of all jobs in the county), and more than 3,000 children in the county’s schools are from service families (about 5 per cent of all school children).

Following the announcement of the cancellation of this year’s national event in Scarborough, there will be a virtual celebration at www.scarborougharmedforcesday.co.uk 

The content will include military related videos and personal stories, recollections from previous Armed Forces Day events and children’s activities.

Councillor Les added: “I am hugely disappointed that our exciting series of events and activities across the county have had to be cancelled. However, there will still be an opportunity to recognise the area’s armed forces personnel past and present virtually, and we look forward to celebrating together next year.”