PICTURES: Portsmouth shows its support with celebrations on Armed Forces Day

Michelle Bates, WO2 Lloyd Gillingham, Noah, six, and Gunner Ryan Hancock
Pictures: Habibur Rahman — Michelle Bates, WO2 Lloyd Gillingham, Noah, six, and Gunner Ryan Hancock Pictures: Habibur Rahman

Families, veterans and charities packed out Southsea’s Castle Field and Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to applaud those who have served their country as part of Armed Forces Day.

The celebrations included military vehicle displays, gun firings from the Fort Cumberland Guard and a flypast by a Chinook helicopter from RAF Odiham.

The day included an emotional veterans’ parade and march-past from Avenue De Caen down to Castle Field.

Angie Bradley, a WRNS veteran, was feeling proud after hearing the Rose and Thistle Pipe Band performance on Castle Field.

Ms Bradley, who lives in Southsea said: ‘I always get choked up when I listen to the pipes. It just makes me feel so proud.

‘For me, it is really important that we celebrate days like this in Portsmouth as, after all, we are the home of the Royal Navy.’

She added that a plan for the future could be to look to stage the events in one location to draw in a bigger crowd.

John Hobbs with his sons Samuel and Evan

Naval veteran Patrick Keefe, who served from 1963 to 1973, said: ‘Armed Forces Day is great and I think we need it to remind people that we have an armed forces and that they do a great job throughout the world by putting their lives on the line for us. Today is about both the forces and the city community coming together.’