The first national Armed Forces Day could be held in Chatham's Historic Dockyard on June 27 next year.

The bidding process from towns which want to stage the event has now closed. Only six parts of the country, including Chatham, are bidding for the new celebratory day to be held in their areas.

The Ministry of Defence has announced that from 2009, Veterans' Day will expand to become Armed Forces Day - a celebration of the British Armed Forces past, present and future - and just one location will be chosen to host the main national event.

The dockyard has set a date of June 27 - the established Veterans Day -now to be re-named Armed Forces Day.

The final decision is expected to be made in mid-January

But win or lose their bid to host the national event, Historic Dockyard officials say they will still hold a major Armed Forces and Veterans event on June 27.

The dockyard staged the Kent Veterans and TA 100 celebration this summer.

If Chatham is sucessful in bidding for the national event, Royal Navy, Army and RAF contingents, their commanders, equipment, munitions, transport and weapons will be converging on Medway for at least the whole of that week in the run up to the event amid tight security.

Senior members of the Royal Family, together with top military commanders and Government Ministers, would be on the saluting base for the main march past in the dockyard in which Admiral Lord Nelson’s flagship, HMS Victory, was built.