Yesterday as the sun shone on our beautiful town of Torquay, we were honored to have some special guests. The Mayor and our council awarded the Honorary Freedom of the Borough to RAF Brize Norton in recognition of the centennial celebrations of the RAF this year.
RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire is the largest RAF Station with approximately 5,800 Service Personnel, 1,200 contractors and 300 civilian staff.
The Station is home to the RAF’s Strategic and Tactical Air Transport (AT) and Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) forces, as well as host to many lodger and reserve units.
With its mixed fleet of aircraft, RAF Brize Norton provides rapid global mobility in support of UK overseas operations and exercises, as well as AAR support for fast jet aircraft both on operations and in support of UK Homeland Defence.
After a ceremony outside the town hall at 1pm including a flyover, there was a parade through the town centre where the crowds lined the street and applauded the RAF as they marched past and down Union Street and Fleet Walk then along the strand and finished at the Princess Gardens at 2.15pm.
I especially liked the fact there were so many women in the ranks too. Which is special as we are celebrating 100 years of the womens votes this year.
Controversial elected Mayor of Torbay Council Gordon Oliver said: “The Honorary Freedom of Torbay gives the service personnel of RAF Brize Norton the right and honour to march through the Borough bearing arms led by the Band of the RAF Regiment.
I am very pleased the Council has responded positively to my initiative to recognise and thank the Royal Air Force for keeping us safe and free and giving us the opportunity to say a really big thank you and well done. We are indeed very proud of the service.
We are delighted to receive the service personnel from RAF Brize Norton and look forward to the ceremonial service and parade through the town. This is a wonderful opportunity for the people of Torbay to say their big thank you to all the past and present personnel of RAF Brize Norton. We are extremely grateful for the service that they provided for this country.”
Armed Forces Champion, Counciller Nicole Amil, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate the links between Torbay and the Royal Air Force, particularly in their centenary year. We look forward to welcoming the personnel at this special ceremonial service and parade through the town.”
The last organisation to be awarded Freedom of the Borough was HMS Torbay, when the crew of the submarine marked the end of the era as the submarine has been deccomissioned and they handed back the freedom in 2015.
It was a brilliant sight to see all of the people out with pride in our town and supporting the armed forces who serve all of us so well, and a good reminder about Armed Forces Day this coming weekend.
The Torbay celebrations for Armed Forces Day take place in Queens Park Paignton on Sunday 1st July 2018. Further details can be found here
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