by Angela Cole

The date and time is set for a military parade through Maidstone.

Soldiers and their tanks will rumble through the County Town to mark their return home from Afghanistan.

Three hundred "Tankies" from the 2nd Royal Tank Regiment (2RTR), many of whom are recruited from Kent, have been on active duty in Helmand Province.

To celebrate the homecoming, they will parade through Maidstone on Thursday, from noon, before stopping off with some of their vehicles in Brenchley Gardens.

Capt Tim Lloyd-Jukes, second in command of Nero squadron, said: "2RTR is proud to think of itself as southern England's armour.

"We recruit a lot of our soldiers from across Kent and Maidstone is a heartland for our regiment. Marching through Maidstone will be an important event for all of us and we look forward to being able to thank the people of Maidstone for all the support and parcels we were sent while we were in Afghanistan."

The regiment provided heavily armoured support for British infantry during their tour of duty, and were also involved in patrolling towns and villages; repairing schools; protecting vital road building programmes, mentoring Afghan police and even guarding a rock concert.

Egypt squadron will form the bulk of the parade and they will march to music provided by the Band of the Brigade of Gurkhas.

The parade will start from Week Street, down the High Street, ending at Brenchley Gardens.