Wigan Council is to join forces with veterans across the borough to ‘fly the flag’ for Armed Forces Day.

The annual celebration of the outstanding contribution made to our country by service personnel and veterans takes place on Saturday June 30.

This year Wigan Council will be working in partnership to organise an event to honour ‘British forces past, present and future’, which is proposed to be held in Wigan Town Centre.

The authority is working with various groups from across the borough on the plans for the big day, including the Wigan Borough Veterans’ Council (WBVC).

WVBC chair Des White says: “It’s great to have genuine support from the council who are showing a true commitment to the Armed Forces Community within the Wigan Borough. This is a new beginning of a positive working partnership with Wigan Council.”

Armed Forces Day replaces the previous Veterans’ Day and previous years’ celebrations have seen a parade through the town centre, with events, displays and other activities.

As part of the celebrations, the council and its partners have already agreed to fly the Armed Forces Day flag after being asked by the Chief of Defence Staff General Sir David Richards in a recent letter sent to the Council.

Wigan Council’s Head of Economic Regeneration, Susan Gambles, says: “We are delighted to be working with the WBVC and hope that other groups will partner with us to work on the arrangements for this very important event in the calendar which will celebrate, reflect and recognise everything that the armed forces do for us.

“We are still at the early stages of planning but we have a good track record of organising town centre events such as this. We’ve already got plenty of ideas coming through and we are looking forward to announcing more details about the day in due course.”