Armed Forces Day is on Saturday 29th June – throughout the week AFC Fylde Community Foundation have been celebrating in different styles.
The Foundation is proud to boast their own Armed Forces support group which helps provide support for both current and ex-service personnel and their families.
Over the last week, the official charity of AFC Fylde hosted an Armed Forces Day event at one of their Loneliness Prevention sessions, ‘Kirkham Companions’ where some of our Veteran’s joined in with the weekly session.
Thanks to Two Mercians for providing the food, we had a huge range of sandwiches, chicken bites and much more. Morrison’s also provided a variety of snacks and cold drinks, which was also very much appreciated.
Our Armed Forces Support Officer, Lee Geraghty, brought all of his former military gear to put on display with the intention of giving people more of an up close and personal insight as to what it was really like being out on the frontline.
A raffle also took place with the main prize being donated by Serendipity house!
A couple of our participants shared some of their stories. Roy, who recently turned 85, celebrated doing so by flying a spitfire and he brought the video in to show everyone.
Shortly afterwards, another one of our participants, Peter Kitt, shared a radio interview he did on Radio Lancashire on the 80th anniversary of D-Day.
Peter himself wasn’t apart of it, but his father was a stretcher bearer and only shared memories of the war when he was older. As his Dad was “one of many unsung heroes” of D-Day and the war in general, he was celebrating his 31st birthday on the day of the Normandy invasion.
Bernadette Kunna, our Loneliness Prevention Project Co-ordinator said: “It was a real treat to be able to celebrate Armed Forces Day with our Kirkham Companions session.
“People were able to exchange memories, look at memorabilia, meet new people and appreciate the efforts of others.”
On the final Friday of every month our Veteran’s gather at Mill Farm’s Aroma Cafe for their breakfast club. Which this month falls the day before Armed Forces Day which was a nice coincidence.
On Armed Forces Day, Toby Carvery Salters Wharf are providing free breakfasts for any Veteran’s as long as they can provide some identification, such as a badge or medals etc.
Lee Geraghty said: “It’s brilliant to see everyone come together to celebrate and raise awareness for Armed Forces Day.
“Just letting previous Veteran’s know they’re still appreciated and cared for makes a massive difference. People sometimes forget the sacrifice these people made for the country so to see people show their gratitude is touching.”
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