1940s weekend returns for first time since pandemic

Pickering Town Community Interest Company said they were "immensely proud" to bring back the event

A 1940s weekend will return to a market town that previously hosted a similar event until the Covid pandemic.

Pickering Town Community Interest Company (CIC) has revived the former Pickering War Weekend and will organise it alongside modern history museum Eden Camp.

The CIC's volunteers have been given a grant from the mayoral investment fund to restart the themed weekend from 10-12 October.

The event has been renamed Pickering 1940s Weekend and has moved away from military displays towards a focus on civilian life and wartime spirit.

Before the last incarnation in 2019, it regularly attracted crowds of 30,000 people to the town and was run by the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.

This year, the Pickering Yarn Bombers will decorate the streets with 1940s-themed knitting and there will be a costume exhibition by the Beck Isle Museum and a talk on the Bletchley Park codebreakers.

Shops and cafes will also be decorated and there will be live music and dancing from the period.

The event used to attract crowds of 30,000 people

Pickering Town CIC chair Mike Potter said: "The event plays to Pickering's strength as a market town steeped in nostalgia - from the steam trains and museum, right down to the recently renovated shop fronts and street signage that harks back to a more traditional era.

"Rather than the front line wartime experience, people can expect a weekend that celebrates civilian life; an event where they can really immerse themselves in a bygone age and get a sense of how people still found joy and resilience in the face of adversity."

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