Whitehaven Iraq War veteran honours the armed forces

Rod Eglin, who became the Royal Army Medical Corps County Parade Marshall last year, is flying flags with the Brantsy branch at St Nicholas church and gardens in the centre of the town to mark the Armed Forces and Reserves Day going ahead.

He said: “We’re commemorating all the service men and women who serve this country by flying flags at the church. Unfortunately for us and other organisations, it’s about as much as we can do right now.”

Because of lockdown restrictions forcing the cancellations of many parades in the county, Mr Eglin hopes he will be able to do more soon.

He said: “Under normal circumstances the parade in Workington would be going ahead with full force and the service in the park is really quite something to behold and be a part of and after we come back to the Legion Club there’s food and entertainment for people who have taken part and its usually quite a big day.

“Other areas such as Whitehaven tend to keep low-key so as not to impact on that event with the countless hours of planning and funding that go into it. We will be at a limited capacity this year with our branch standards.”

The British Legion is celebrating 100 years since the charity started in 1921, helping ex-service personnel adjust to ordinary life.

Mr Eglin said: “Celebrations are supposed to be lasting all year but it’s very difficult not knowing whether we’ll be locked down.

"Along with other counties that have had to postpone events - we’re among them, it’s too much work and too much cost for events to be cancelled like that.”

“Until we can do it properly, it’s not worth doing.”

The 62-year-old is organising a county-wide standard bearers competition in September.

The winner of the event will be given the honour to represent their county as the lead standard bearer for national events and all grades are urged to participate.

He said: “My wife is taking part in it this year and she’s been standard bearing for a year now.

"I hope she wins.”