Seaside town to host Veterans Day

Blackpool has been chosen as a flagship town

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has agreed to give a Lancashire town up to £10,000 to be a flagship location for next year's annual Veterans Day.

Fifteen towns and cities, including Blackpool, are being invited to draw up plans to mark the day on 27 June.

Veterans Minister, Derek Twigg, said the events will focus on engaging the local community and young people, celebrating veterans of all ages.

This year, about 200 Veterans Day events took place across the UK.

Falklands conflict

Mr Twigg said: "I believe the cities represented here will be inspired to make next year's Veterans day the best so far.

"I also hope that one of the flagship events will be nominated as the UK's national Veterans Day event and will thereby attract additional funding."

The MoD has said it will continue to provide funding to support smaller community events around the UK. In 2007 many of these events will be linked to the 25th anniversary of the Falklands conflict.

The 15 flagship towns and cities are Blackpool, London, Newcastle, Hull, Leeds, Birmingham, Nottingham, Norwich, Southend, Portsmouth, Weymouth, Plymouth, Cardiff, Dundee and Pontypass in Northern Ireland.

Application form and details of how to apply for funding are on the Veterans Agency website.