A FREEDOM of the Town parade of The Rifles regiment through Wellington town centre next month will be a 'very special day' for the local community.
Details of the event are being fine-tuned by Wellington Town Council ahead of the British Army’s largest infantry regiment, The Rifles, marching through the town on June 17 in recognition of its links with the local community over the past nearly 400 years.
The Rifles will parade through the town from Wellington School from about 2 pm and go along South Street and into Fore Street and stop outside the town council offices for an official Freedom of the Town ceremony, before the parade continues through Fore Street and into Bulford and back to Wellington School via an access near Wellington Community Hospital.
The town council is has been working closely with The Rifles and relevant agencies to ensure that it will be a day for everybody to enjoy and remember.
The council’s assets and events officer, Annette Kirk, told members of the authority’s town centre committee that arrangements were going ‘really well’.
She said: “It will be a very special day.
“It is a work in progress, but it is looking like it will be a great event for the town."
Councillors were told that there could be up to 400 military personnel marching through the town with regular soldiers, band members, cadets, and veterans.
It is expected that The Rifles Museum will be using the Pop-Up Shop in the town centre from June 12 to 17 with displays and information to explain more about the regiment’s historic links with the area.
The local regiment of the Somerset (Prince Albert’s) Light Infantry 13th Foot was formed in 1685 in the aftermath of the Duke of Monmouth’s defeat at the Battle of Sedgemoor.
Rifles antecedent regiments were involved in the Duke of Wellington's now-famous Battle of Waterloo, a victory commemorated by the building of Wellington Monument on the nearby Blackdown Hills.
The Wellington Weekly understands the town council is in talks with the RAF about a special flypast of a Second World War Hurricane fighter aircraft on June 25, which is the national Armed Forces Weekend, held each year for people to show their support for the men and women who make up the Armed Forces community.