WATCH Red Arrows over Scarborough; the Armed Forces Day flypast official video has almost half a million views, and thousands visited the 'virtual event' website

The event was taken online after the real-life celebrations had to be postponed as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Every day between 23 and 27 June, new content was added to the dedicated Scarborough Armed Forces Day website.

Figures show the site had almost 23,000 views in just a few days. A special Facebook page achieved more than 5,000 views and 4,500 likes.

Live coverage of the Armed Forces Day flag raising ceremony at Scarborough Castle and flypast from the Red Arrows secured the greatest coverage.

There were 104,000 views with over 250,000 people reached. A video of the flypast and dramatic footage from inside the cockpits of two Red Arrows has been shared 1,400 times - you can see part of it with this story.

The Ministry of Defence’s own social channels have 1.3 million followers and Armed Forces Day content reached more than 750,000 people. 341,000 people watched the video of the Red Arrows roaring over Scarborough.

Virtual Armed Forces Day also achieved widespread media coverage, locally and nationally, ranging from The Scarborough News (both online and in print) to Sky News and the BBC, and national newspapers.

The Scarborough Armed Forces Day website - scarborougharmedforcesday.co.uk - is still live, featuring content contributed by people across the borough.

Cllr Tony Randerson, Scarborough Borough Council cabinet member with responsibility for delivering the Armed Forces Day event in Scarborough, said: “It was a real shame our various planned Armed Forces Day celebrations weren’t able to go ahead in the way we hoped.

“However, the decision to mark the event virtually and take everything online was the right one, judging by the figures. I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to our website.

“Our content has reached hundreds of thousands of people. Significantly, many of them will be outside the borough. Having seen what we’ve been doing for Armed Forces Day this year, I hope they will visit for real for the 2021 event.

“The extensive positive media coverage is also a great outcome and showed our borough in a great light.

“Next year’s event will be spectacular. I am keen to hear from any local companies that would be interested in supporting Armed Forces Day 2021.”

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