SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY 2015 - THE SECOND WEEKEND - JULY 4th and 5th.

It's no wonder that the picturesque surroundings of the #Severn Valley Railway are a favourite location for film companies, and so popular with tourists. Built in the 1800's the railway provides an authentic backdrop for historical events.

With 1940's displays, exhibitions and costumed wartime re-enactors we were all transported back to #WWII Britain.  The second weekend of "Stepping Back to the #1940's continued it's busy schedule with a wartime wedding at Arley Station which

 drew the crowds, and also featured at this station was a Red Cross Train Carriage with nurses.

Actor's Winston Churchill and Field Marshal Montgomery were also to be seen at Kidderminster Station with an ARP warden.

Stepping back to the 1940s is just one of the events this year to mark the 50th Anniversary and Golden Jubilee of this popular Midlands attraction.  In 1965 a group of railway enthusiasts met and planned the rescue and re-opening of the Severn Valley Railway. This event was a tribute to their achievement, and was also a very successful and enjoyable weekend!

STEPPING BACK TO THE 1940S AT SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY - THE FIRST WEEKEND - 27th and 28th JUNE 2015

This year's "Stepping Back to the #1940's" event at #Severn Valley Steam Railway offered an action packed wartime experience for visitors! And the displays and costumed re-enactors, pictured here at Kidderminster Station, turned the clocks back to the 1940's.

 

 

There was a battle at Highley Station, which drew the crowds, as American, British troops and the French Resistance fought to regain control of a steam train.

 



 

With exhibitions and activities at all of the six stations that make up the Severn Valley Steam Railway, this was a great weekend !







STEPPING BACK TO THE 1940s at SEVERN VALLEY STEAM RAILWAY 2015!

Severn Valley Steam Railway is celebrating it's 50th anniversary this year.  Paul, the Event Organiser tells me that preparations are being made to make this years annual WWII# event a special occasion! On Saturday morning we are travelling back in time, with the help from pupils from a nearby school,  to see the scene of wartime evacuees leaving Kidderminster Station.

There's a battle re-enactment at Highley Station with impressive sound and visual effects, a 1940s taxi office at the front car park at Kidderminster Station,  plenty of 1940s costumed re-enactors, a wartime wedding, vintage shopping stalls, rides on the steam trains and much more!  Stepping Back to the 1940s at Severn Valley Railway#, ( June 27th and 28th and July 4th and 5th 2015) is always a very popular event and well worth a visit! For more details visit www.svr.co.uk

TODDINGTON STATION, COLOSSUS AND THE BLETCHLEY PARK ENGINEER#

During a journey, on a steam train from Winchcombe to Toddington Station, I met David who told me, "I was at Bletchley Park#." Working with Bill Tutt and Tommy Flowers, he helped build Colossus# which was used for intercepting messages to German High Command and Hitler's instructions to his generals! David said his work involved wiring and installing plates. "My job was to keep Colossus going," David said, "we worked on it while it was live - 350 volts - you could get a shock!" "We worked with one hand in our pockets, because if you worked on two different parts of the machine, the current could go straight through you." After WWII, David continued his top secret work with GCHQ.

Considered to be the first version of a program controlled computer, Colossus was developed at a Post Office Research Station (GPO) and was moved to Bletchley Park in December 1943.  By January/February 1944 it was operational and working around the clock to decode German transmissions, and provide Britain with crucial information. It also confirmed that false information about Britain's invasion plans and tactics, a deliberate decoy, had been believed by Germany. Eventually there were ten machines at Bletchley Park!

The interception of the German Lorenze# SZ-40 cipher machine transmissions (tunny) led to the success of the D Day invasion, and the shortening of the war saving countless lives. This is a remarkable story and the work of David and the Bletchley Park Engineers has never fully received the acknowledgement it deserves.


Source
The Secret Life of Bletchley Park   Sinclair McKay
Station X   Michael Smith
The Colossus its Purpose.. Tony Sale  www.codesandcyphers.org.uk.lorenz/colossus
The Colossus Gallery  www.tnmoc.org/explore/colossus-gallery
Colossus   http://cryptomuseum.com/crypto/colossus/index.htm

1940s WARTIME EVENT AT GREAT CENTRAL RAILWAY 2015!

It was sunshine and sunglasses at the Great Central Railway Wartime Weekend Event !

And there was definitely an emphasis on 1940s fun and fashion at this venue with

 

 

plenty of vintage stalls, expert styling from hairdressers and (pictured below) a fashion parade.

 

There were lots of military and civilian vehicles and  displays including 1st Airborne Reconnaissance Squadron.

 







Wartime entertainment was provided by Kevin Mack and Miss Luna Nightingale and

there was a morale boosting speech from King George V1. With activities at all of the four stations and a flypast, poppy drop, and battle re-enactment, #Great Central Railway Wartime Event was a great weekend!

 



OPERATION TUTBURY CASTLE 1940s Event 2015

A medieval castle became the landscape of wartime England, with  a battle re-enactment, a flypast from a WWII plane and numerous 1940s exhibitions and displays.

1940s re-enactments included the work of the Womens Auxiliary Service (pictured)  and

Special Operations in Burma (below) and also Churchills Secret Army,

Within the walls of this 11th Century castle the re-enactors turned the clocks forward to the 1940s and we heard the sound of air raid sirens and swing music. Tutbury Castle in the 1940s# certainly drew the crowds! Another enjoyable event!

FORGE MILL NEEDLE MUSEUM REDDITCH - 1940s REMEMBERED!#

Remembering the 1940s was the theme of a wartime event held at the victorian #Forge Mill Needle Museum. Visitors were able to find out what wartime fashions were like during World War II with an authentic clothes and accessories display. She really does look 1940s doesn't she!

As well as lots of exhibitions and displays there were military and civilian vehicles with the re-enactors setting the scene,

and the songs and sounds from the 1940s, from Ruby Lamont, entertained us all.  

 

Forge Mill Needle Museum in the picturesque Arrow Valley Country Park usually gets lots of visitors and this event was no exception! It was a great 1940s day out!