EXPLORE ABERDEEN

Aberdeen’s Veterans Day spectacular

27/06/08

The City of Aberdeen will celebrate Veterans Day in dramatic style tomorrow [Saturday, June 28] with a parade of pipe bands, veterans, cadets and military vehicles.

The spectacular event will also include a fly-past by an RAF MR2 Nimrod jet at 11am.

Over 800 people will take part in the parade, which incorporates Veterans Day, the Army’s Pipers Trail and The Gordon Highlanders Museum project ‘Camouflage 08.’

The public is expected to line the entire length of Union Street to watch the parade so they can acknowledge the outstanding contribution made by veterans during their time in the services and to the contribution they make to the community on their return.

The parade will start at 11am from Albyn Place, then head along Union Street to end at the Castlegate at approximately 11.30am.  As the parade reaches the Town House, the Lord Provost of Aberdeen Peter Stephen will take the salute along with three high-ranking officers from the Army, RAF and Royal Navy while the Nimrod flies over the parade and soldiers abseil down the side of the Town House.

The Pipers’ Trail is a celebration of the Army’s links with Scotland through music, culture and tradition and will consist of musical events and workshops. It set off from Shetland on 17 June and is travelling through Scotland over the course of six weeks in June and July.

Pipers and drummers will make a journey of more than 470 miles, with each mile piped by an individual soldier until the end of the route in Edinburgh. The Aberdeen leg of the Pipers’ Trail has been organised to coincide with the Veterans Day parade.

The Pipers' Trail is the brainchild of Brigadier David Allfrey, Commander of 51 (Scottish) Brigade, who stated:  "The Pipers' Trail has been attracting lots of interest since it began its journey in Lerwick. I'd like to call on the people of Aberdeen to join us on The Pipers' Trail as we make our way through the city.

"The intention of The Pipers' Trail is to provide, through the medium of bagpipe music and highland drumming, an insight into Scottish culture. With Scottish soldiers serving all around the world, The Trail will help connect them with their local communities through a shared passion for music.”

Thanks to the Gordon Highlanders Museum Camouflage 08 project, over 100 children wearing specially commissioned "Support our Veterans" T-shirts will join the veterans on the parade.

Youngsters from Citymoves will perform a piece of contemporary dance choreographed to mark the occasion. Aberdeen based artists Gabi Reith and Phil Thompson have designed two floats that will carry models wearing camouflage-inspired garments created by textile students of Grays School of Art, alongside historic military uniforms worn by local volunteers.

Traffic diversions for Veterans Day Parade

The following city centre roads will be closed from 10am until 12.30pm on Saturday, 28 June, while the Veterans Day parade takes place:

  • Albyn Place from its junction with Albyn Grove to its junction with Holburn Street and Union Street;
  • Union Street;
  • Back Wynd, except for access;
  • Castle Street;
  • King Street from the Castle Street junction to the East North Street and West North Street junction.

During the parade the right-turn bans from King Street into West North Street and Holburn Street into Willowbank Road will be revoked.



If you have any queries regarding this, or any other news story, please contact Aberdeen City Council on: 01224 522000.