Saturday 25 th saw the third annual Armed Forces Day Parade take place across and the country and one of the biggest parades took place in the second city, Birmingham . 51 Cadets and 12 staff from across the Warwickshire and Birmingham Wing traveled into central Birmingham to take place in a formal parade.

The cadets and staff from the Air Training Corps were by far the largest contingent of any cadet force on the parade. Once all the cadets had arrived outside the Art gallery, a size off was completed which was eagerly watched by members of the public. The cadets and staff then made their way through the Central Library complex to the Millennium Bridge where they joined the other members of the parade.

At exactly 11:30 am the parade was brought to attention by an RAF Regiment Sgt from RAF Cosford and the Royal Marines Band played and the complete parade marched towards the make shift parade square in front of the International Convention Centre.

The dignitaries on the day were led by Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, CinC Fleet and the Lord Mayor of Birmingham , Councillor Anita Ward.

At 11:45 , members of the Royal Marines Band marched forward and laid up their drums in front of the dignitaries. A short service was then held in which all the speakers thanked the Armed forces of the United Kingdom for their selfless devotion to duty.

At the end of service, everybody on parade completed a march past and then left the parade square area to rapturous rounds of applause from the audience who lined the streets.

qn Ldr Foster, Wing Staff Officer and Parade Commander for the Warwickshire and Birmingham Wing commented “I am extremely impressed with the numbers of cadets and staff who have paraded in Birmingham today. This is an important date in our annual calendar now, and when you also take into account that all the staff and cadets will be competing at our Wing Field Training day on Sunday 27 th June, the dedication shown by the cadets and staff is self evident. I would like to pass on my thanks to all who attended from across our Wing”.