Rayleigh and Wickford MP and Armed Forces Minister, Mark Francois, paid tribute to HM Armed Forces when he attended the recent Concert in the Park, organised by the Rotary Club of Rayleigh Mill.
The popular concert, which the club have revived after a brief absence, was attended by thousands of people from across Essex and took place on Armed Forces Day – Sat 28th June. As a local MP, Mark is an honorary member of the club and they kindly gave him an opportunity at the start of the show to go on stage and to remind the audience of Armed Forces Day and the commitment of service personnel. In his brief address, Mark called for a rousing round of applause for Her Majesty’s Armed Forces, which was well received by the crowd.
Commenting on the event Mark said:
"It is great to see that the Concert in the Park is back in business and that there was a great turnout of thousands of people who seemed to be having a really good evening. As it fell on Armed Forces Day, I think it was appropriate just to say a few words to the audience about the wonderful work that the Armed Forces do on our behalf and it was lovely to see people respond so enthusiastically when I called for a round of applause for our troops. There were hundreds of events up and down the country on Armed Forces Day and it is great to see something of this size in Southend where, as part of the evening, people were able to do the right thing by our troops."