Rufford Abbey 26th - 27th September.

Rufford Abbey 26th - 27th September.

As always our annual trip to Rufford Abbey was a most enjoyable event. Folks started to arrive on Friday afternoon and we got the tentage set up in the warm afternoon sun. By 7pm it had become a dark and cold September night so we retreated to the pub for a team beer. On the Saturday morning L/CPL cooper set up his impressive N.A.A.F.I. display. Pte. Clewlow put on an excellent display of ATS kit and equipment and Pte. Pozniak set up the wireless tent . Later in the morning we provided the guard for the parade with Field Marshal Montgomery and Prime Minister Churchill. After the parade we were treated to corned beef and ham sandwiches for lunch, all made by the ATS girls.  After lunch L/CPL Heaton took the lads for a bit of rifle drill up on the circle. This is always a popular activity as some one always puts a foot wrong and get a laugh. In the afternoon we put on a training scenario in the main arena. This was the usual section attack on a fixed position. This involved the Pack 40 made  by PTE Etherington and a real Stuart tank. This went down very well.

We would also like to welcome new member Rob, he fitted in well and also had a go at the rifle drill with L/CPL Heaton and picked this up very quickly.

ATS Tentage

Wireless Tent

Beer Ration

Cleaning the Guns

Field Kitchen in Action

The NAAFI 

Ready for the off

Taking a well earned break

11th JULY OPERATION REMEMBER

Yesterday 5 of the group spent the day supporting "Operation Remember" for York Scouting. We took a selection of infantry kit and weapons, we displayed alongside Alan Swatmans German group. There was quite a lot of interest from the groups of scouts. In the afternoon there was a firepower display, featuring British and German weapons of WW2. Thank you to all involved.

                    

YORKSHIRE WARTIME EXPERIENCE

Some more pictures from the Yorkshire Wartime Experience can be found here.


 Taken By J Irving

JULY 4th and 5th YORKSHIRE WARTIME EXPERIENCE

Last Weekend saw the group at the Yorkshire Wartime Experience. We had a dug in display with a couple of trenches. The three inch mortar was sited at one end of the dry trench with a 57 mm antitank gun between the two. This was then complimented with Pete Cartner's 6 pounder which was squeezed in next to the 57 mm. By the time the parapets of the trenches were adorned with Brens, Stens Rifles and the P.I.A.T., we had a well defended position.

                                   

The Saturday was dry. The proposed early morning skirmish failed to materialise,so we spent the day watching an endless parade of vehicles circling the arena. The first parade was post-war vehicles. This was followed by War time vehicles with the Allied vehicles first followed by the Axis vehicles.
Eventually at 3.30pm we got ready to take part in the "Battle" which was delayed for the best part of an hour. The first part of the "Battle" was very confusing with vehicles from both sides just milling around in the arena. Explosions were going of all over the place and it was difficult to understand what was happening. Finally the Sarge got the thumbs up and deployed the section on to the field, only to have to un-deploy them to let the M36 Jackson out, then redeploy them. The fighting was very confused and the Allies were hopelessly outnumbered. This, combined with the organisers' failure to provide any ammunition, resulted in a convincing win for the Germans.
The Sunday was much the same as the Saturday except for the interest caused by the wheel falling of a German half track as it paraded around the arena. Again the battle was delayed and as it concluded with a dubious Allied victory, the heavens opened and that was sort of that. By the time we lined up in front of the crowd, there was no crowd. So it was back to the trench to rescue our kit and head for home.