A major pageant
is being organised by Live Nation, the company behind last year's Concert for Diana, and businesses and workers in the City of London to celebrate and support the UK's Armed Forces and to raise funds for rehabilitation facilities for the treatment of wounded servicemen and women. The event will take place on May 7th and the money raised will go to the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, the Help for Heroes charity and to Headley Court, the tri-service military rehabilitation centre.
is being organised by Live Nation, the company behind last year's Concert for Diana, and businesses and workers in the City of London to celebrate and support the UK's Armed Forces and to raise funds for rehabilitation facilities for the treatment of wounded servicemen and women. The event will take place on May 7th and the money raised will go to the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association, the Help for Heroes charity and to Headley Court, the tri-service military rehabilitation centre.The City Salute website explains the reasons for holding the event: The City of London thanks British troops and their families for the sacrifices they make on our behalf, through an Appeal and a special Pageant.The sunset pageant in front of St Paul’s Cathedral on Wednesday 7th May 2008 will be a celebration of the qualities of our Servicemen and Women: their courage, modesty, toughness, and humour. The event is a very personal tribute, being organised by the men and women of the City to demonstrate their admiration for the Armed Forces - who are in many cases their friends and neighbours, or their own relations. City Salute is not about foreign policy – it's about people, about the members of our society who choose to serve, and to go cheerfully and uncomplainingly wherever they are sent on our behalf; and about the families they leave behind here at home.
The full event programme is still to be finalised but confirmed are:
- Band of HM Royal Marines marching through Temple Bar.
- Ceremonial troops and armoured vehicles of The Household Cavalry.
- RAF fly past.
- Son et lumière at St Paul’s Cathedral.
- Giant screens showing specially commissioned short films about the lives of the forces and their families.
The event has the support of the Royal Brothers and the Lord Mayor, David Lewis, who said: "The City of London is immensely proud of its historic and very close association with the armed forces, which dates back to when the City was founded. I am delighted that through City Salute we have an opportunity to celebrate these links, to salute the men and women of the armed forces, and to show our gratitude for the courage and forbearance displayed by them and by their families."
Details are available on the City Salute website, www.citysalute.org/, where online donations can also be made.
Link> The Evening Standard: Princes' salute to military
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