Deputy Lieutenant for the West Midlands Deputy Lieutenant Mr John Wood, the Mayor of Sandwell Councillor Richard Jones and Leader of Sandwell Council Councillor Kerrie Carmichael will lead the raising of the Armed Forces Day flag at 1pm on Saturday (25 June) at Dartmouth Park Memorial.

Armed Forces Day is a chance to show support for all those who make up the Armed Forces community – from currently serving troops to service families, veterans and cadets. It takes place on the last Saturday each June.

The Armed Forces Day flag was raised outside Sandwell Council House, Oldbury, on Monday (20 June) at the start of Armed Forces Week, which also includes Reserves Day (22 June) to recognise the country’s Reserve Forces.

Councillor Laura Rollins, Sandwell Council’s cabinet member for leisure and tourism, said: “We are very proud of our Armed Forces community and recognise the sacrifices made by people who are serving or who have served for our country, as well as their families. We look forward to paying tribute to their service and saying ‘thank you’ on Saturday.”

Also at Dartmouth Park, the Pat Collins Funfair is giving 500 free ride tickets to the first Armed Forces staff who show their MOD 90 card at the fair’s box office. The fair is open from 4pm-9pm on Friday (24 June), 12noon-9pm on Saturday (25 June) and 12noon-9pm on Sunday (26 June).

The family fun fair includes talented local touring artist Tess Radcliffe who is running unique workshops for visitors to create amazing fairground art to take home. And the fair will have a main stage providing entertainment from DJ legend Ernie Cartwright’s world’s first cookery and DJ show. Ernie will demonstrate low-cost healthy cooking in 20 minutes including a DJ session of timeless easy listening classics – all in addition to the traditional thrill-seeking rides.