Veterans urged to collect their badges for Armed Forces Day 2019

Every year, as the highpoint of North Kesteven District Council’s Armed Forces Day activities, it invites former service personnel to receive their Veteran’s Badge within a celebratory function.

New for this year, this will be a lunch event on the same day as the formal flag raising, on Monday, June 24.

The Veteran’s Badge is now presented to service personnel at the point of leaving the forces, but there are generations of people who have served within the Royal Navy, the Army or the Royal Air Force over the years who have not received theirs and the council wants to honour these people for their past contributions.

Deadline for applications is April 30. By getting in touch sooner the council can run through everything that is required such as service details, duration, dates and so on.

Armed Forces Day seeks to develop a better understanding and strengthen links between the community and our Armed Forces, past, present and future.

There are lots of ways we can all get involved.

• Flag Raising on Monday June 24, 10.30am, in Navigation Yard, Sleaford. Open to all.

• Veteran’s Lunch and badge presentation on Monday June 24, 12pm. Veterans who apply to have a Veterans Badge presented will be guests of honour. Application are welcome now and tickets will be available to purchase in June.

• Window Dressing Competition, for all businesses in Sleaford Town Centre. The entry deadline is June 10. Judging will take place on the morning of June 19.

• Promotion of discounts offered by businesses to Veterans and Armed Forces personnel, where the council is made aware of these by June 10.

The week’s overarching theme for 2019 is the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings, which was the focus for a children’s design competition for the poster and publicity materials. With 112 entries, the standard across ages ranging from three to 11, made the selection really difficult.

At a time of ongoing international conflict and poignant anniversaries, Armed Forces Week is an annual national celebration of the contribution made by everyone associated across the three armed services – the British Army, Royal

Navy and Royal Air Force – past, present and future.

For more than a decade North Kesteven has organised the local activities in partnership with the Royal British Legion, local RAF bases and Sleaford Town Council.

Veterans or their families wanting to enquire about the badge presentations and businesses wanting to participate in the window dressing competition, and promotion of their discounts should email: [email protected] or

call the Partnerships Team on 01529 414155.