INTERVIEWS: Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire meets 100-year-old D-Day veteran on visit to Morecambe

Thursday, 16 January 2025 14:16

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

D-Day veteran Richard Brock with Amanda Parker, Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire, and Gary Kniveton from Bay Veterans Association

The Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire has paid a visit to Morecambe where she met a veteran of the D-Day landings.

Amanda Parker, who acts as the King's representative in the county, met Richard Brock during her afternoon at Bay Veterans Association in the Arndale shopping centre.

Sergeant Brock, from Lancaster, was awarded numerous medals for bravery including the Legion d'Honneur, the highest military order of merit in France, after being part of the largest seaborne invasion in history.

Richard landed on the beaches at Normandy with the Allied Forces as they advanced into Nazi-occupied France in 1944.

Over the next 12 months he helped to liberate parts of France and the Netherlands, saw first-hand the horrors of the Nazi concentration camps, narrowly escaped death after a missile landed on a cinema in Belgium, was part of the famous 'A Bridge Too Far' battle, and invaded Germany's second biggest city as Hitler's forces surrendered.

Richard's dramatic and gruelling journey - staying overnight under trees, hedges and in foxholes, and constantly in danger - took him 2,000 miles from London, through France, Belgium, Holland and then into Germany as the Allied Forces were ultimately victorious.

While in Morecambe on Wednesday, the Lord Lieutenant also visited Unique Kidz & Co, a charity helping disabled young people, and SAFE, which supports people of all ages going through mental health and other life challenges to reintegrate with society.

And she spoke to Beyond Radio too!

LISTEN to our interview with the Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire

"It's been fascinating," said Mrs Parker.

"I love coming to towns, villages or areas where I can see two or three places in one day, and a get a real feel for how a community comes together and life in the area.

"I've known about Bay Veterans Association for a while now and the turnout today is very exciting.

"Everybody coming together and there's no competition, it's shared vision and desire to support our veterans and it's been an absolute pleasure to talk to them all.

"Lancashire in particular has a very large proportion of military veterans. To see everybody coming together to support them is heartwarming.

"Morecambe is not somewhere I come very often and it's beautiful."

Mrs Parker was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire in 2023.

She has devoted much of her life to voluntary service and served as a magistrate for almost two decades; and supported young people through sport, especially hockey.

We also spoke to Andrea Farrington-Matthews and Darren Clifford from Bay Veterans Association, and Jenny Reddell from Lancaster CVS (Community Voluntary Solutions).

LISTEN here