Vintage Event: Wartime Weekend at Pickering 2013

I went to Pickering last year and it was a lot of fun, so my family and I decided to go again this year to soak up some of the vintagey times together.

The wartime weekend is a perfect mix of historical reenactment, vintage shopping and a sort of festival atmosphere as there are many sites all along the North Yorkshire Moors Railway that are taking part in the festival.

Sadly however, unlike last year, this year the weather was rubbish. We managed to wrap up and still cope with the rain, but it meant that a lot of the outside things like DJs and dancing were cancelled. Sad times.

I had to cobble together an outfit as my stuff is still split between the north and the south. I did have a Jaeger suit from the 1970s though that I felt had a bit of a 40s look so I decided that was a good option. There is a faint blue tinge to the fabric so I wore a blue hat with it too. I also wore my stole since it keeps me nice and warm. Oh did I mention that the suit was £7?! Yeah! eBay bargain!

My mum also decided to get into the spirit of things wearing my Grandmothers fur coat that I mentioned in this post. Oh and I did her hair... it was super soft and kinda short so I was so pleased that I even managed to get a twist at the back of her hair. My husband and Dad weren't dressed up so we made them be our pro-photographers.

There were lots of people dressed for the occasion through despite the weather and as usual they had the train platforms split so that you could take pretty nifty pictures of all the vintage-y folks.

Including Winston Churchill...

The  local choir was singing We'll meet again...

It was also great to see the medical professionals were out in force too.

I adored the portable Glambulance, not only were they doing a great job at giving ladies fantastic up-dos, but their name was also a pun!

Some dodgy dealings going on in the black market.

Is this young chap really old enough to drive?! I'm not sure he looks too happy about being stuck in the car all day.

As usual there was a heavy focus on the armed forces, of remembering those that fought in the War and the lives of those that were touched by the war. I found the poppy appeal display very sad in particular, they seem to have a different on each year, and they never fail to make me well up a little bit. I think the North Yorkshire Wartime Weekend really does find the right balance between remembrance and historical fun - something I'm sure they'll keep up in the future!

Oh and of all the vintage cars I saw, I adored this one. I made me think of Captain America, but upon a closer inspection it turned out to be an Australian Chrysler, not what I expected. Mind you that doesn't make this care any less amazing. If this is yours I, and my family are very jealous!

  

Phew, that was a super picture heavy post. We ended up spending the Sunday in York as it was raining and so windy so I don't know if anything happened on that day. Hopefully the weather will be a bit better next year!

Bye for now!

Vintage Events: Pickering Wartime Weekend 2012

Last Saturday I attended the Pickering 1940s Wartime Weekend with my parents and husband (still getting used to saying that!).

Pickering is a 1940s re-enactment event that has been running for 20 years and is one of the biggest in the country. Although the centre of the event is Pickering North Yorkshire there are events held across the North Yorkshire Moors Railway line, from an evacuation re-enactment at Goathland to the occupation of French village LeVisham.

Travel between events via the railway on beautiful steam trains was the way most seemed to get around but, sadly, we didn’t have time to travel by train on the Saturday.

We did however manage to get onto the train platform as a train was arriving, the platforms were separated into one for ‘period costume’ only and one for everyone else. I believe this was so photographers could get ‘authentic’ vintage shots, but who knows.

The station was not only the focus point for many re-enactors but was also the location of several musical performances and a mock blitz air-raid (which was pretty scary).

There were also lots of vintage stalls selling clothes, accessories and military memorabilia, we even managed to find a retro beauty parlour tucked away in a back street.

 

And everywhere you looked there were vintage cars!

At one point my mother took a photograph next to a vintage car and a swarm of photographers started taking my picture, it was fun for a few moments but then I began to feel a little embarrassed – it wasn’t even my car!

We also stopped off in the local church where they were serving tea and cakes and they were also creating a memorial installation using poppies form the poppy appeal.

The streets were full of people, so many of them in full costume I was really amazed by how much effort people put into their clothing. There were a lot of men and women in vintage armed forces uniforms, as would be expected at a war re-enactment event, but what was really amazing was that so many children were dressed up too. It was nice to see history so alive and well in the hearts and minds of those attending the weekend.

All in all I had a great day, but to get time to see everything, or even close to everything, it would be a good idea to spend more than one day there. But I would recommend it to anyone even vaguely interested in vintage, the 1940s or the home front.