Details of 2009 events are listed below. 2010 events to be released soon
Blackpool Council, in partnership with the Fylde Ex–Service Liasion Committee is committed, through the annual celebration of Veterans Week, to “Honour and Unite All Who Served”.
Blackpool are hoping to build on the successes they have achieved over the last three years with their previous Veterans events, by launching a whole week of events.
Blackpool's Veterans Day will be graced by a royal visitor, the Duchess of Cornwall. The Duchess, who is Royal Colonel of the 4th Battalion The Rifles, Commodore-in-Chief of Naval Medical Services, Royal Navy, and Lady Sponsor of HMS Astute, will make her first visit to Blackpool as part of the national celebrations.
Blackpool's Victorian North Pier will be a focal point and meeting place for veterans, their families and friends, providing a centre for entertainment, socialising, information sharing, and contact with welfare services. Free golf buggies will be provided to transport visitors along the pier, should they require assistance.
H. M. Forces come to town!
A first hand look at the trades and equipment utilised by the Armed Forces
During the action packed weekend:
Experience a Royal Marine Beach Landing
Take a nostalgic journey back in time and marvel as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight's WWII flying machines: Hurricane, Spitfire and Dakota soar through the air all viewed from your very own front row seat on the North Promenade. Also showcased is the agile Hawk Jet. In level flying, this plane of choice of the Red Arrows approaches the speed of sound.
The RAF Falcons parachute display team will be dropping in to say hello from 12000 feet and helicopter search and rescue teams will demonstrate their vital skills.
Other planes to be spotted over the weekend include the Tucano and Tutor training aircraft.
Odeon Cinema, Rigby Road, Blackpool
A special free wartime cinema experience especially for primary-aged schoolchildren on the Fylde Coast. Special screenings of 1940's Archive news footage of children living in the UK during the second world war, including gas mask drill, giving young children a taste of what life in wartime Britain was like. Followed by a black and white Laurel and Hardy film, which would have been enjoyed by children and their families during the 1940's.
Blackpool Grand Theatre, Church Street
Performance Times: Monday at 8.00pm, Tuesday to Saturday Evenings at 7.30pm, Thursday and Saturday Matinees at 1.30pm Tickets from £12.50 Starring Jeffrey Holland, Fraser Hines, Guy Siner and Michael Sharvell-Martin, this classic wartime farce, set in the village of Merton-cum-Middlewick, is a comedy of mistaken identities. The village is besieged by comic characters including an escaped prisoner of war, a visiting bishop, an actor and a locum priest, all at the same time!
Empress Ballroom, Winter Gardens
All are welcome to join the Veterans and their friends and families at a spectacular gala dinner in the stunning surroundings of the Empress Ballroom. Come and enjoy a five-course meal to the sounds of the Lancashire Royal Artillery Band (v) followed a top class post-dinner cabaret. Dinner starts at 8pm. Join us first for a pre-dinner drink in the Arena.
Blackpool Cenotaph, adjacent to North Pier
Dedication of the Cenotaph Choir Loft and Official National Veterans' Day service. Blackpool leads the nation in a service to Honour and Unite All Who Served at the newly-restored Grade II listed War Memorial. The multi-faith service will be lead by Blackpool's Faith Forum and will welcome Veterans', their families and friends from all over the UK and abroad to give thanks to all former members of the Armed Forces for their service, dedication and sacrifice. Please note, as this is a service of celebration, no wreaths will be laid at the Cenotaph on this day.
Blackpool Cenotaph, adjacent to North Pier
To honour the thousands of veterans visiting Blackpool on National Veterans' Day, Blackpool school children will present their own 'Thank You' from the newly restored Cenotaph. Pupils from Blackpool schools are currently researching and writing their own tributes, which will be performed in front of Veterans and dignitaries on National Veterans' Day. Pupils have been asked to create their own performance to suitably thank Veterans for their services to the country during war and peacetime. The tributes can take any format from works of art to music, dance and poetry. Guests are invited to join the children at the Cenotaph to share in what is certain to be a moving tribute to veterans of all ages.
Blackpool Tower Ballroom - invitation only
50 veterans will be selected to receive their Veterans' Lapel Badges in the magnificent Blackpool Tower Ballroom. Veterans of all ages and backgrounds and from all over the country are invited to come to Blackpool on National Veterans' Day Friday 27 June, to formally receive their Veterans' Badge.
Starts at Blackpool Cenotaph, adjacent to North Pier
Be part of the largest ever National Veterans' Day Parade, here in Blackpool. Join in the early evening march along the famous Promenade, passing the newly-restored Cenotaph and the iconic Blackpool Tower. All veterans, serving military, youth groups and association members are invited to take part, as Blackpool residents and visitors line the route to pay tribute to the effort and sacrifice of all involved.
Friday Night has been Music Night on BBC Radio 2 for half a century and now this popular show: the world's longest-running 'live music' program on radio, is coming to Blackpool as part of the resorts National Veterans' Day celebrations.
The Red Devils will be dropping in for a very special display as National Veterans' Day 2008 comes to a close. With an exciting twist to their usual skilled displays, adding another element of danger, the team will drop into the celebrations and onto Blackpool's sandy beach once the sun has set over the Irish Sea. The official display team of the Parachute Regiment and the British Army will be illuminated with glo-sticks and lamps as they free-fall through the night sky and drift gently onto the darkened beach. If you see any of the 100 displays this team performs for the public each year, this on has to be it!
Promenade, adjacent to North Pier
In a rousing end to the day's celebrations, the skies above the Promenade will become a blaze of light and colour as National Veterans' Day 2008 come to an end. Join us in an emotive tribute to UK Veterans with a stirring firework display set to music: a suitable finalé to Blackpool's celebration of National Veterans' Day 2008.
All former members of the military are invited to apply for a Veterans' Badge: a lapel badge presented to an individual to mark their serviced in the UK's Armed Forces. However, Blackpool would like to highlight the skills, bravery and determination a career in the military can help to develop, in a truly unique way. On National Veterans' Day, Blackpool will challenge former seamen, soldiers, and airmen to 'retrieve' rather than receive their Veterans' Badge, by rising to one of our 'once in a lifetime' experiences. Who has a head for heights to abseil the 518 foot tall iconic structure of Blackpool Tower? Who is brave enough to retrieve their badge from the bottom of the huge tank at SeaLife Blackpool which is home to one of the largest collections of tropical sharks in Europe?
For the first time ever in the UK, Aero GP is cutting-edge motor sport - with an exciting new twist for the first time ever in the UK. Combining the speed and adrenaline of F1 racing, but instead skilled pilots from all over the World manipulate high-performance airplanes around a tight circuit at near ground level, in this ultimate battle for air supremacy. Forget anything you've ever seen at an air show, this is a super competitive world series that pushes elite pilots and their aircraft to the limit, truly adding a third dimension to sport. Racing faster than any race car - but in the same amount of space and while pulling 10Gs - makes Aero GP the ultimate motor sport.
Blackpool Cricket Club, Stanley Park
Gates open 10am (Cricket commences 12pm)
A celebratory match pitting veterans of all ages against currently-serving Armed Forces.
Four teams play the fast and furious Twenty/20 action packed competition in a straight knockout tournament.
Teams from the Combined Services Veterans XI, 12 Regiment Royal Artillery, Blackpool Cricket Club Select and Select 999 XI will thrash leather against willow in this unique atmosphere of fast-paced cricket where every ball will count.
There will be lots of other things to see and do in this family friendly free admission event including military assets, children's corner, fine food including traditional cream teas and fully licensed bar at very reasonable prices.
Stanley Park Golf Course
There are two simple entry criteria for the intergenerational Veteran's Golf Tournament:
. At least one member of each team must be a veteran
. There must be at least 10 years in age between each of the two team members
The 18-hole course at Stanley Park was designed by world famous architect Dr Alister McKenzie and opened in 1925. It covers an area of 101 acres and is 6,048 yards long.
