This year marks the 70th anniversary of the Normandy Landings and many Second World War veterans will be marking this historic occasion with commemorative visits to the places they served.
After recently meeting with the Big Lottery Fund, Pendle MP Andrew Stephenson is taking the opportunity to remind local veterans of the funding available to them through the Lottery’s “Heroes Return” programme.
He said: “Through ‘Heroes Return’, the lottery offers veterans from the UK, Channel Islands and Republic of Ireland grants from between £165 to £8,140 towards travel and accommodation expenses to enable them, their spouses and carers to make trips back to places across the world where they served.
“This is a great programme and I hope many local veterans will use this funding if they are planning on making such visits.”
Further details can be found at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/heroesreturn or by calling the Heroes Return helpline 0845 0000 121.
In Pendle the 70th anniversary was marked by a special wreath-laying ceremony at the war memorial in Market Square.
Veterans of the D-Day landings along with civic dignitaries and repesentatives of Armed Forces groups were present at the poignant ceremony on Friday.