The first Armed Forces Day to be celebrated was back in 2006, at that point it followed the American tradition and was called Veterans Day. It was celebrated on the last Saturday in June of that year, because that was the month back in 1857 that the first investiture of the Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria took place in Hyde Park, London and the aim of this day was to ensure that the contribution by our military forces was never forgotten.

In 2009 the name was changed to Armed Forces Day, it’s an annual opportunity for all to come together to show our support for the men and women who make up our Armed Forces community, reservists, soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines, those currently serving, our Veterans, Service Families and our military services of the future in the form of cadets.

The official launch of Armed Forces Day is the last Saturday in June but towns and villages throughout the UK either celebrate it on that day or the two following Saturdays depending what else is happening in their districts.

Back in 2019 a group from the Veterans community who met each month at the clubhouse of Vivary Park Golf Course as part of the Veterans Breakfast Club, were chatting over a cuppa about having Armed Forces Day here in Taunton and it’s thanks to Phil Winks and the rest of the Veterans who had the initial chat, within practically 3 months, Phil and the rest of the team, had organised the first Armed Forces Day in this part of Somerset and Wilton Lands next to Vivary Park was filled with displays, performers and local stalls. They had a lovely sunny day for the event and over 3000 people visited the event and had a great day out.

Following on from the success in 2019 of Taunton and Somerset Armed Forces Day, the group of Veterans decided to ‘think big’ and hold a bigger and better event the following year. They managed to obtain an agreement to hold Armed Forces Day in Vivary Park and Wilton Lands but due to Covid the events in 2020 and 2021 were cancelled, but the committee were still in communication talking about coming back in 2022 and Somerset Armed Forces Day did indeed return in 2022, with over 20,000 visitors that year.

2023 was a massive success with a footfall of over 31,000 visitors who had the opportunity to visit a vast number of stalls, displays, arena events and so much more.

We are looking forward to this years event and look forward to seeing you there.