The Edinburgh Armed Forces Day 2011, The British Army Royal Marines, RAF, Royal Navy & Army Tribute

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The Armed Forces Day 2011 event took centre stage in Scotland's Capital City of Edinburgh to celebrate the work and commitment of the British Armed Forces and the Army in a Veterans Day.

When is Veterans Day? What is Veterans Day? On Saturday 25th June, 2011 the Royal British Legion Scotland Motorbikes paraded down the Royal Mile High Street and through Holyrood Park past the Scottish Parliament and Holyrood Palace, celebrating the 90th anniversary of the UK Royal British Legion Scotland. This included 90 Harley Motorbikes leading the parade ahead of the Armed Forces. A Search and Rescue Helicopter was due to fly down the High Street but I never witnessed that.

According to STV News, an incident on Saturday involving a mobile phone being thrown out of a commercial jet caused delays at Edinburgh Airport including preventing some of the flying particpants from landing at Edinburgh and thus not being able to take part in some of the days aerial armed services events.

At midday bang on schedule unlike the parade of military forces which was forty minutes delayed for some unexplained reason, the Red Arrows carried out a flypast over the Parliament from the East Coast across the top of Edinburgh Castle towards Leith. The flypast was sponsered by Selex Galileo. Fifteen minutes later, the crowds were treated to an exciting flypast by the Battle of Britian Memorial Flight which included a Lancaster Bomber, Spitfire and Hurricane well known from the 1930's and 40's during the awful conflicts of World War Two.

Occuring at the same time, the Armed Forces Parade began with many of the Scottish Regiments marching down the High Street to Holyrood Park which included all three services of the Military being represented. I managed to catch a glimpse of the military uniforms of the Royal Marines Band, Scotland, the Royal Air Force Band and the Queens Colour Squadron of the Royal Air Force. There were other particpants I saw including the Rifles, previously known as the Band and Bugles of the Light Division and Green Jackets, the Light Infantry. Cadets were also present as were many standard barers and ex serviceman who had served their country before. The new Royal Regiment of Scotland Massed Band was present, making many appearances in Edinburgh frequently. The band is made up of members of the 52nd Lowland Division, the 6th Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland as well as the 51st Highland, 7th Battalion, the Royal Regiment of Scotland of the British Army. There were 1000 serving members of the armed forces military ranks which included Veterans and Cadets which started parading from the Castle Esplanade. Present too was the RBL Pipe Band.

After the parade, the Infantry Military Armed Forces put on a display of combat in the Holyrood Park Arena which included a drumhead service and a Civic handover. The programme of music included music, entertainment displays, a parachute display team from the RAF Parachute Display Team, the Falcons and the Royal Marines Commando/ Royal Navy combat demo along with Highland Dancing from the United Kingdom.

The day of events had a family theme to it with a Veterans village and an Armed Forces Bar. For younger people, there were flight simulators, climbing walls, an inflatale assault course, a bouncy castle, crazy golf, sumo wrestling and a bucking bronco. Armed vehicles could be observed within the park which included vehicles used on operation in Afghanistan and army jobs recruitment tents.

At the close of the day of events there was a Beating Retreat from all of the marching bands where a flypast by a Tornado Jet flew by once the flags were lowered. On the Friday, 24th of June, there were many events in Leith next to Ocean Terminal where the Royal Yacht, Britania stays. These included a tour of HMS Portland which was in dock open to visitors as well as an opening ceremony performance by a Royal Marines Band, one of the Army Forces. At midday, a Royal Navy Field Gun Display took place with the forces armed as well as a Royal Marines Band performance. The Cadets also displayed their skill and the Royal Marines performed a Commando display. The dau ended with a Beat the Retreat and a 25 minute display by the Red Arrows over Leith which was the first time in 22 years although I can confirm that they flew over in 2004 for a performance of the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo. The Royal Artillery Flying Gunners Motorcycle Display Team was also present.

The final day of the Armed Forces weekend on Sunday included a church service at Canongate Kirk before a military fitness session took place. Up at Edinburgh Castle and Johnston Terrace, the Massed Pipes and Drums formed up as they marched down the Royal Mile. The weekend of events was an excellent way for the public to understand the question, what are the armed forces?

Video Produced by Alan Taylor, Alan Andrew Taylor of Willow Creek Pictures, 2011

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• edinburgh
• scotland
• armed forces day
• british army
• army
• the british army
• royal marines
• royal navy
• raf
• british army afghanistan
• british soldiers
• parachute regiment
• afghanistan british army
• royal marines commando
• british forces
• music
• infantry
• british military
• uk
• marines
• the royal marines
• commando
• marine
• raf regiment
• paras
• royal
• marching band
• battle of britain
• spitfire
• hurricane
• lancaster
• pipes and drums
• pipers
• parade
• air

[YARROWS9]

It's British Armed forces day and all you see is Scottish Flags.Is that wee Alex getting in there again.

[WillowCreekPictures]

@YARROWS9 Unfortunately, it's really pot luck from where I was filming. I should really have roamed around for some shots of British flags. There were loads there on the day. I remember though when the flags were handed out, there was a choice and most Scottish people did choose those flags, I don't think we mind either way but when given the choice, we went for those. I should also mention that when they came to us, they ran out of British flags so I myself just took whatever was offered anyway

[JeffreyWerewindle]

I rather enjoyed that! Thank you!

[WillowCreekPictures]

@JeffreyWerewindle Thanks very much, if you have any suggestions feel free to post them on my channel's idea tab for future videos/events.

[WillowCreekPictures]

Which band did you enjoy the most?

[TiggerScotland]

Searching for film of yesterday's Leuchars air show I came across this video. It's great!

[WillowCreekPictures]

@TiggerScotland thanks very much. It's been years since I've been out at Leuchars, must put that one back on the calendar. A channel you might like for aircraft is 'auldm'. He is a videographer I met through the Edinburgh Cine & Video Society and there are loads of videos of airplanes which you might enjoy. Another person I know was at Leuchars on a test shoot using new cameras so I'll keep an eye out for any footage that might make it onto Youtube.

[TiggerScotland]

Thanks for the info. I will look out for 'auldm' channel and really appreciate you contacting me if your acquaintance uploads footage. I've actually found a few

videos from yesterday and they are very good. I'm just greedy. I enjoy watching planes. My daughter and family were at the show and made a few photos themselves. I just Googled 'RAF Leuchars air show 2011' and found more!

[WillowCreekPictures]

@johnplinehan thanks. it's amazing what you can capture y just going out on the off chance of capturing something for fun.

[johnplinehan]

brilliant well done