THE 1940S RELIVED

BrOOklaNDs MUseUM, WeyBriDGe, sUrrey, 14 May

During the 1930s, Brooklands was Britain’s premier racing circuit, a glamorous venue reserved for ‘the right crowd and no crowding’. By the following decade, it had switched to aircraft production, building Vickers Wellingtons and Warwicks, and Hawker Hurricanes, among others.

Both these important aspects of Brooklands’ life were marked during The 1940s Relived, looking back to one of the more significant eras of its – and Britain’s – history. Classics from the 1940s and pre-WWII were given pride of place at the museum’s paddock, but machines from later years also crept in throughout the day. Those unsung heroes of the era, commercial and service models, were made especially welcome this year, ranging from humble delivery vans through to fire engines and ambulances.

This fifth staging of the event featured the established and very popular formula of celebrating the military and civvy styles and fashions of the period with re-enactors and visitors dressing up suitably – it seemed even more numbers than ever entered into the spirit of things for 2016. There was a vintage market, music, dancing and a flypast from, appropriately enough, a Hawker Hurricane of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight.

The large crowds who attended made this gathering a big success, and probably much more enjoyable than the austere and dangerous reality of the time. Richard Gunn

www.brooklandsmuseum.com