Town gets ready to step back in time

Brighouse 1940's Weekend. Madeline and Claire Smith dancing in the street.

Visitors are invited to dress in period costume for two days of non-stop vintage musical entertainment, a spitfire and hurricane fighter flypast, evening of big band entertainment and displays of vintage vehicles and fashions.

It will be the fifth vintage weekend hosted by the Brighouse Business Initiative. Treasurer David Tankard, from The Flower Garden, said: “The event just gets bigger and bigger every year. We are getting a lot more stalls, vintage vehicles and people attending and more enquiries from tour operators bringing coaches of day trippers to our event, which is really putting Brighouse on the map.”

The weekend starts on Friday, June 2, with a Foot of the Barrel theatre company performance of the play Goodnight Mr Tom. Tickets for the Brighouse Civic Hall show (also with a matinee and evening performance on Saturday, June 3) are £10 and £11 from The Flower Garden, Simply Flowers or www.brighouse1940sweekend.co.uk.

On Saturday the town centre will be closed to traffic as the town is filled with market stalls and exhibitions. Hundreds of re-enactors will turn the clock back with living history demonstrations dressed as Land Army girls, RAF officers, Scottish Highlanders and other iconic figures from the 1940s as well as a special visit from a Winston Churchill lookalike.

One of the highlights of the day will be the flypast by the RAF Battle of Britain memorial flight, which is scheduled for 3.30pm (weather permitting), but organisers are also excited to have secured a German WW II assault gun from the Yorkshire Wartime Experience and a full size replica Messerschmitt fighter plane which can be seen at the Bethel Street car park. Saturday will also see the Ashby Big Band playing for a dance in the Assembly Rooms from 7.30pm (tickets £15).

There is a full programme of events on Sunday, ending at around 4pm.

All but one car park in Brighouse will be open over the weekend, but visitors are advised to use the park and ride at Armytage Road, HD6 1PT, which will have a vintage bus service into town (£10 per car), while the event is easy to access on public transport.

For more details on the Brighouse Business Initiative call 01484 400602.