It's been on the cards for a few months that several groups would join together for this event and show British 3rd Division 44'45 in their glory. Luckily for us no re-badging involved.
So, I arrived on Friday, all excited for my first event of the year. Some lads already in and others arriving throughout the day. Numbers were well up for the East Yorks as everyone was expecting it to be a good show.
We all messed around with the trenches a bit and soon realised the organisers had given us only half the area needed....a great shame. It turned out we would field around 50 men between the groups.
The atmosphere was good and moral very high. It was decided by the big wigs we would alternate sections to the pits, one hour on and two off. So on Saturday and Sunday this is what happened and it worked very well.
The weather was only 'OK'...... On the Saturday morning the show announced cancellation of the air display due to weather conditions. This was very disappointing for us but more so for Joe Public who were, it appears, charged full whack. This affected the footfall no doubt, as much as the bad weather forecast.
We all thought the public were thinner on the ground this year as was armour and some other groups were missing. Made obvious by large gaps in the display field which we could have used well if we'd been given some more space.
Many of us have attended other events with very few Brits so it was great to see this turned around at this event and have a big contingent of Brits. I felt very proud.
I feel because we do it right more and more people see this and are coming our way, which is great.
It was really nice to see so many old faces and with such a good turnout we were able to fill positions we often can't due to numbers. So special thanks should go to these men; Phil, Dave, Al, Bob and more - great to see you. Nice to see Chris Bell all the way from Canada and the Tigers who have been in this show since the start.
The battle went well for us again both days. Well commanded sections working together and doing it right. I watched the battle myself on Sunday and I thought it would be rubbish but you know what, guys it was really good. Even though, the organiser had thrown in a Rambo that no one knew about! Cpl Heaton handled this very well indeed.
Generally the feeling was that we had all enjoyed ourselves. We did a good representation. We handled the events problems well. We were pleased to work with other units.
For us, it all worked and went well. Thanks to all concerned;
Suffolks
Warwicks
East Yorks
Leicesters
Middlesex
RAMC
DR
Provosts
Officers and NCOs
And if I missed anyone I'm really sorry.
I hope we can repeat this someday
Pte Etherington
