Hosted by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, the city will come together to celebrate our incredible service men and women this weekend.
This Sunday 25 June 2023 marks Leeds Armed Forces day and anyone is welcome to join the celebration and show their thanks.
Hosted by the Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Al Garthwaite, the triumphant event will take place on Briggate between 11am-4pm and will feature a range of family-friendly activities for everyone to get involved in.
Visitors can expect lots of traditional pageantry including the West Yorkshire Police Band leading a parade from Albion Street to Briggate of armed forces personnel, veterans and cadets.
Image: Leeds Armed Forces Day
There will also be a whole host of musical events, including live performances from the City of Leeds Pipe Band, the Dishforth Military Wives Choir, the 1940s-themed Daisy Belles and the rock covers band, Rocky Road.
Spanning the length of Briggate there will be stalls and marquees with activities, displays and workshops.
There will also be street performers, military vehicles, face painters and balloon modellers to commemorate the special day.
Lord Mayor of Leeds, Councillor Al Garthwaite, said: “Armed Forces Day is an excellent opportunity for the whole family to have fun while also recognising and saying thank you to service personnel and their families, both past and present.
Image: Leeds Armed Forces Day
“We are extremely proud of our long and distinguished military history as a city. Therefore, I’m humbled to host a celebration honouring our armed forces' dedication, professionalism, and incredible work, and to take the salute with His Majesty’s representative, the Lord-Lieutenant of West Yorkshire, Mr Ed Anderson.
“I would also like to offer a big thank you to everyone taking part and who has contributed to the organisation of what has rightly become one of our city’s most popular events in the civic calendar.”
In honour of National Chocolate Week, two big brands are joining forces.
Fancy a freebie? Silly question, of course you do.
Tony’s Chocolonely and Yorkshire Tea have joined forces for National Chocolate Week to ask Brits to declare themselves a ‘Melt’...yes, really.
It comes after the brands discovering a new Gen Z dunking trend, with research finding that 80% of 18–24-year-olds say chocolate is their preferred tea-dunking treat.
To understand why the perculiar pairing has become so popular, the brands recruited Associate Professor of Psychobiology, Dr Lorenzo Stafford, to investigate what happens when tea and chocolate come together.
Associate Professor, Dr Lorenzo Stafford said: "It's fascinating to see how much thought Brits put into what makes a great dunk. Flavour, texture and temperature all shape how we experience food, and the combination of hot tea with melting chocolate creates a particularly enjoyable sensory experience.
"When it comes to dunking, tea and chocolate have great chemistry so it’s no surprise young people have embraced it."
If you want to try it out for yourself, then you can for free - but there is one catch.
From Monday 19 to Friday 23 October, anyone who walks into one of Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds and says ‘I'm a Melt’ will get a free mug of Yorkshire Tea and bar of Tony's Chocolonely.
Not only that, but the first 100 customers will also get a limited-edition ‘Melt’ cap.
Yorkshire Tea & Tony’s Chocolonely said of the partnership, “Brits love their tea and their chocolate and now the science shows why. This National Chocolate Week, we’re inviting everyone to give it a go, embrace their inner Melt and discover just how well chunky chocolate and a proper brew can work together.”
Leeds Bradford Airport strikes will NOT go ahead following ‘late offer’ over pay
Clementine Hall
This weekend's strikes at Leeds Bradford Airport have been cancelled.
Around 130 workers were set to walk out this weekend, Unite said, but this has been suspended to allow air traffic controllers to consider a new pay offer.
The Unite members planning on to go on strike were a mixture of air traffic control workers, customer experience staff, security staff and cleaners.
The workers involved in the dispute had recently come out of a four-year pay deal, with some of the departments having fallen behind other airports in equivalent roles.
Pay talks have been happening since December 2025, with the airport's formal offer not going far enough to address the lack of pay parity which led to the decision to strike.
However, as of yesterday 15 October, the workers have been given new pay offers from the airport and the strikes will not take place to allow a ballot on the offers.
Air traffic controllers and hourly paid staff are being balloted separately on their respective offers.
Unite regional officer Neil Whitaker said: "After receiving offers from Leeds Bradford Airport, we have suspended this week’s strike action in good faith to allow members to vote on pay deals.”
In a statement, Leeds Bradford Airport said: "While the ballot process continues with certain members of our frontline colleagues, we remain hopeful that a positive outcome can be achieved and that an agreement can be reached which works for everyone involved.
"Regardless of the outcome of this ballot, LBA has a robust contingency plan in place and will be operating as normal this weekend.
"Our focus remains on supporting a smooth and reliable experience for customers while maintaining safe and efficient airport operations."
Clementine Hall -
20th June 2023 
