Good to see Armed Forces Day being celebrated once again in many places across England, Wales, Northern Ireland and in Scotland, which had "more than a dozen events" from Edinburgh and Glasgow to Thurso and Dumfries.

The fact that Glasgow held (and were always going to hold) an official AFD event is perhaps worth noting in view of recent controversies.

Indeed, Glasgow registered their event on the official AFD website, thus they are one of the places mentioned in national as well as regional and local media.

There were, in fact, more official events in Scotland than were ever registered on the national site. That is of course entirely a matter for the organisers of each event, often a local branch of the Royal British Legion or Royal British Legion Scotland (Legion Scotland) with strong support from the local authority along with regular and reserve armed forces, youth organisations, charities and others and of course the members of the public who turned out to enjoy an event honouring our country's armed forces personnel.

Those like Inverness who chose not to be included on the national UK listing no doubt felt that local and regional publicity would be sufficient to inform the local public, as the success of their event has amply shown. With participation by The Royal Regiment of Scotland and others, there is no suggestion that theirs was not a thoroughly official AFD event.

Nor is there any suggestion that organisers are obliged to register their event and thus having it included on the 'Find Your Event - Armed Forces Day' database available to all.

Is there a an argument, however, that national (UK-level) mention of your Armed Forces Day event is not only information for potential visitors and spectators on the day, but is also a demonstration to the rest of the country that your village, town or city supports its armed forces personnel?

'Armed Forces Day in Edinburgh' Image per: North Edinburgh News