Crew to parade through city as Ark Royal takes final bow

About 160 sailors from HMS Ark Royal, which is being decommissioned in March, will parade through Leeds to mark the aircraft carrier's long-standing affiliation with the city for the final time.

The parade will take place on Saturday, February 12 with sailors exercising their Freedom of the City.

They will march with bayonets fixed, colours flying and in time to the drum beat of the Royal Marines Band of Scotland, carrying the ship's Freedom Scroll. Afterwards the city will host a reception for the ship's company in the Civic Hall.

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In 1941, the people of Leeds raised about 9m towards another of the ships to bear the HMS Ark Royal name after its predecessor had been torpedoed and sunk early in the Second World War.

The parade will begin at 11am outside Leeds City Museum in Millennium Square, march along The Headrow, around the Victoria Quarter and return to the Town Hall at about 11.30am.