1940s weekend takes Brighouse back in time
Brighouse has travelled back in time with its very own 1940s-themed event complete with displays, cars and re-enactors in old-fashioned outfits.
Organised by volunteers of the Brighouse Business Initiative (BBI), residents both young and old dressed up in 1940s clothes including army generals and RAF fighter pilots ready for action.
Even Winston Churchill and King George VI lookalikes hung around the centre as visitors got up-close to real military vehicles and classic cars, as well as vintage buses.
A RAF Spitfire plane also flew overhead on the Saturday afternoon.
Music from the era was remembered with 1940s dances in the town’s Assembly Rooms and a range of live performers took over stages, also taking their music in local eateries and singing to members of the public.
Even shops, businesses and charities played their part including the local RSPCA Charity Shop and The Cake Maker Shop located in the town centre.
A remembrance service was held with speeches, shortly after the Clifton & Lightcliffe Brass Band and Salvation Army paraded through the streets.
Steven Lord, one of those behind the BBI, told the Yorkshire Standard: “This event is organised and paid for entirely by the community of Brighouse.
“Two to three years ago, Brighouse was off the map. So it’s quite a remarkable achievement for a group of shopkeepers who are determined to keep their town centre thriving.”
The 1940s weekend is scheduled to take place on 6 and 7 June next year, and according to organisers, people are already getting ready.
Mr Lord said: “People are booking their hotels, and have been asking where the caravan parks are.
“We are turning an industrial West Yorkshire town into a tourist centre with a projected 250,000 visitors this year worth an estimated £2m to the local economy.”
