It came about four years ago. The first was in Chatham, then it went to Cardiff, then to Edinburgh, and it will be in Plymouth next year. It's normally on a weekend in June, and normally centred on the Saturday.
Whether it's in the flagship city or any other community that wishes to support Armed Forces Day, there tends to be more of a remembrance theme in the morning, and then in the afternoon there's more of a celebratory theme. There are displays, events for charity, parades, services, fly-pasts, and parties in the evening put on in a large stadium. There's sort of a tournament tattoo-type feel. That's normally the way the day pans out.
It's a good opportunity for charities to fundraise. It's a good opportunity to get a message across to the public about what service people, past and present, do and have done.
I wouldn't say there's a lot of lead-up to it. It's very much centred on the day, but obviously there is promotion of events and use of the day to work up messages to gather maximum engagement on the day. Sunday follows with some more solemn events to round off the weekend.