We had been looking forward to our coach trip from the Isle of Wight to visit the Hawarth 1940's weekend for ages, since booking it, but as the day approached, the weather forecast got worse. The forecast on the day before threatened heavy rain, cloudy and cool for most of the day.
The big day came, and our journey from our hotel in Wakefield began. The discussions on the coach all were similar, ok so it's going to rain, but we are going to have a great time nevertheless!
On arrival at Hawarth, it was as we expected raining.
We were in good spirits, and determined not to let the rain spoil our day. The crowd on our coach were brilliant. We made our way up Main Street towards RAF Hawarth, where Private Ricky Hunter was performing on the back of a truck. We first met Ricky on the Isle of Wight at a VE Celebrations weekend, so it was good to catch up with him again.
We then wandered up to the top of Main Street to the parish church, where a vintage fair was taking place, and tea and cakes was being served. Due to the rain the church was packed, after queuing for our tea, we decided to drink it outside as there were no seats, and there was hardly any standing room either! We stood in someone's doorway to drink our brew. A nice gentleman with lots of camera gear then approached us and asked if we would mind him taking some photos of ourselves. We said no problem, so he set about posing us, which amused us! Below is a couple of shots he kindly sent us, thank you Robin Cooter!
In the car park at RAF Haworth, there was a full size Spitfire on display
The Honeybirds and Paul Harper were entertaining the crowd.
The rain was easing so we decided to walk back down main street. I wanted to take some photos of some of the wonderful characters that were here.
On the way down the hill we met Mr.Churchill ...
At the bottom of the hill we met the very nice men of the Haworth Home Guard.
An unexploded bomb was giving cause for concern...
Walking back up the hill I spotted a familiar face, James Lewis from Bargain Hunt, and other antiques shows on tv, he very kindly posed for a picture.
The village looked wonderful
The variety of costumes and uniforms was very impressive...
The yanks were attracting a lot of female attention!
I managed to tag onto a group of yanks during a photoshoot to grab these pictures...
At last years event some German tourists complained about the prescience of re-enactors dressed in the uniforms of the SS. As a result, the organisers this year had made it known that these uniforms were not welcome. Shops had been given stickers to display in their window, saying that those uniforms were not welcome. However several re-enactors were still to be seen, one of whom was arrested by two members of the French resistance!
Back at RAF Hawarth, Mr.Churchill was making a rousing speech...
A few more pictures from our day...
We had a fantastic day, the weather didn't spoil our fun, and we would love to go back again one day.
If you haven't been to the event before, Do it!! You won't regret it!!
