Ringstead Charity Armed Forces Day Fete 2025

The event will open to the public at 11am on the day of the event We have organised an American Military Chaplin to officially open the event at approximately 11:30am saying a few words along with the village priest from St Mary’s church. The opening ceremony will be followed by “posting of the colours” by an honour guard of American Marines in full dress uniform. To avoid the requirement to have permission to carry weapons even if they are ceremonial, volunteers making up the honour guard will perform the ceremony without the usual riffles and any officers volunteering to take part in the event will do so without the usual officer’s swords which normally form part of the dress uniform. The event will also have two WW2 style check points located behind the official road closure and these will also be manned by American Marines in uniform acting as ceremonial guards for the event. The American involvement consisting of Marines and other serving base personnel volunteers. These volunteers although based at RAF Molesworth, an active Airforce base, they are volunteering to take part in our event as they live in the surrounding villages and want to help in raising money for military veterans both here and back in the states. Static displays of military vehicles will be in the carpark of the Axe and Compass and the front paddock of Truslow’s farm on Carlow Rd, if we have a high turnout of military vehicles supporting the event then the additional fields within the road closure area can be used for additional display areas for Military vehicles. Within the road closure area, we will be hosting retail stalls and food vendors including an ice-cream van, burger van and hog roast. St Mary’s Church will host two performances of a wartime sing along with readings of war poems. There will be an Anglo-American Tug of War on the lakeside of Kinewell Lake. This is planned to be a village wide event with the local tea rooms hosting a 1940’s style afternoon tea . Our local Shared Church is also getting involved to host an art competition in the weeks running up to the event. This will get the local primary school involved and add a bit of fun for the local children. Visitors’ car parking is located outside the village boundary and a free park and ride passenger shuttle will transport visitors to and from the event. The event will be open to the public from 11am – 5pm. Road closure to be in place from 8:00 am on Saturday 28th June with residents parking being made available utilising the field area located opposite the junction of Carlow Rd and Church St/ Station Rd. This will be open from Friday 27th June. Visitor Car parking will be made ready at any time prior to the event as this does not affect the flow of traffic before the event.
Event Itinerary
• Military vehicles and equipment to arrive on site including the check points between 8:30 – 9am.
• Catering trucks to arrive between 9 – 9:30am
• Retail stall holders to arrive between 9:30am and 10am.
All retail stall, military vehicle and equipment display support vehicles must be clear of the site by 10:30am to allow a final safety walkthrough before admitting the public. Exhibitors/ support and stall holder’s vehicles to be parked in the field opposite the junction of Carlow Rd and Church St/ Station Rd to maintain access for emergency vehicles.
• Event will open to the public at 11am.
• Official opening ceremony will be held Infront of the Axe and Compass pub by an American Armed Forces Chaplin and our incoming vicar for St Mary’s Church both saying a few words. Volunteers from RAF Molesworth will perform “Presenting of the Colours” a traditional flag ceremony at official events.
• St Mary’s Church will host two performances of WW2 style sing- along and readings of war poetry. The early performance will be 12:30pm and the later performance at 3:30pm. Both performances are planned to last approximately an hour each.
• St Mary’s Church will also host a flower festival for visitors with the church being open all day to view the floral displays.
• Anglo-American Tug of War competition, hosted by Kinewell Lake will take place on the lakeside between 2pm & 3pm. Consisting of English vs American participants in a fun competition.
• The Watermill Tea Rooms will host a 1940’s style afternoon tea during their normal opening hours with their staff dressed up in period costume.
• The Axe and Compass Pub will also be opening a little early from 11am and will also have staff dressed in fancy dress in keeping with the event.