Armed Forces Week is an opportunity to show support to the men and women who make up the Armed Forces, including those currently serving, veterans, reservists, cadets and their families.
Armed Forces Week is particularly important this year as we commemorated the 80th anniversary of VE Day in May and have the 80th anniversary of VJ Day coming up in August.
A service of commemoration and remembrance was held on Thursday 8 May for VE Day, which included prayers for peace, lighting of memorial candles and memories of Bury from 1945. A series of events also took place across the borough to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
Bury has a proud military tradition as the historic home to the Fusiliers, and we are proud to support our Armed Forces community. The council was awarded the gold award in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme.
The award is in recognition of the council signing up to the Armed Forces Covenant and demonstrating its commitment to supporting military veterans and reservists in society and in employment with the council.
This included recognising military veterans as a protected characteristic and giving this group the same attention and protections that we would for all protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010
The council provides a range of support and promotes support available elsewhere:
- Employment and skills support for the Armed Forces community - support available to assist the Armed Forces community with employment, and information about how to get adult education or training:
- Health and wellbeing support for armed forces personnel – the NHS, council and partners actively look at the health needs of veterans and serving members of the armed forces
- Housing for armed forces personnel – veterans, serving members of the armed forces and their families are given preference on the housing register
- Schools and education for armed forces families - for returning personnel, we will allocate a place in advance of the family arriving in the area
The council also a policy to support reservists working for the authority (Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines Reserve, Territorial Army and Royal Auxiliary Air Force).
There’s further help available for individual members of the armed forces and veterans who are struggling with the cost of living on the council’s website at: Let's manage tough times - Bury Council
There’s also free membership of our leisure centres for serving military personnel and veterans: Military and Veteran membership
80th Anniversary of VE Day
Gallipoli Day
The Gallipoli campaign was fought during the First World War and took place in what is now modern-day Turkey. At dawn on 25 April, soldiers from The Lancashire Fusiliers landed on W beach to the west of Cape Helles, the southernmost tip of the Gallipoli Peninsula, to try to force the Ottoman Empire out of the war. The Lancashire Fusiliers were famously awarded ‘Six VCs before breakfast’ and W Beach was renamed Lancashire Landing in honour of the Battalion that captured it.
