Operation Homeguard
Ingleton 4th and 5th July , 2009
Another hugely popular event at Ingleton, judged by the fact that every B&B, Guest House, Hotel and Pub, was totally sold out for miles.
This event was supported by Ingleton Parish Council, Ingleton District Trade Association, Hanson's Aggregates and The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust - Grassroots Grant.
Event
Photography by Dickon Siddall.
Here you will find hundreds of pictures of the event, by our local professional photographer.
If you would like to purchase any of his photographs, please contact him.
Stall holders were very busy all weekend, the stalls were dotted through out the village
The Weekend Report ...
First of all we would like to say a big Thank you
to everybody for coming to the weekend, we could not have done it without you.
We appreciate you taking the time and effort to kit yourself out and joining in,
this weekend had a fantastic friendly atmosphere to it and that was commented on
a lot throughout the weekend.
This year saw a lot more people coming to the village for the event. more
vehicles, re-enactors and public joined in, even the shops and pubs are now
warming to the idea. A big thank you to those establishments who donated prizes
for the raffle, we really appreciate it and you know who you are.
The weather looked like it was not going to be in our favour again, however Saturday was ok, warm, the sun shone through on and off. The heavy shower came at around 5pm just as a few of us was packing up. We had a busy morning setting markets stalls out and the bar up in the square. This year we had no problem with parked cars, thanks to the police putting bollards out early. As soon as the road closure started at 12pm I (Gracie Lands) sang in the square, followed by lots of dancing, the young and old joined in, even the public. The Ingleton Middle School children danced to Cho Choo Ch'Boogie, they did brilliantly to say they had only had about 7 half hour sessions. I had been into school each Thursday at lunch time and they had learned the American stroll and swing jive. Some had dropped out and others stepped in at short notice so well done to them. The skirmish went off well both days, lots of people watching and good crowd control.
ENSA show -George Formby (P. E. Casper Esquire) entertained in the working men's club, everybody enjoyed him, thought he looked and sounded like him. I caught the end of his first half when I went down to dish out the hot pot, sounded really good, wish I could have sat down with a pint and enjoyed the atmosphere.
The sat night dance was a sell out with around 250 people. The Starlight Swing Orchestra played something for everybody, the floor was never empty. The Black Watch Pipes and Drums gave a blast during an interval and Gracie played some swing tunes to keep everybody dancing. Johnny took everybody back to the campsite in the mini bus, thankyou to the Little Red Bus company for letting us borrow the bus. A good night was had by all.
Sunday started off early again for us setting up
market stalls. The cenotaph parade was well attended, the cadets marched well.
The big parade was led by the Black Watch Pipes and Drums, those who joined in
was the homeguard, our local Cubs, ex-service men, the Ovaltiney's in the old
Bibby's bus and the military vehicles. The Homeguard stopped off in the square
to be inspected by Churchill and the vehicles had a good road run to the
Ribblehead Viaduct. The rain was not that kind to us on the Sunday. Just as the
Helen Howard school of dance can can girls started to dance the heavens opened.
Everybody ran for cover and the girls carried on with big smiles on their face.
They loved it thought it was fun kicking water up into the crowds!!
The Flypast both days were excellent, did you see the man waving out of the side
door of the Dakota?
Well done to Neptis at Brown & Whittakers for winning the best dressed
establishment, they fully deserved it. (The coffee/shop as you go into the Three
Horse Shoes Car park)
ALSO - IF YOU LOST A CAMERA CASE ON THE BUS, PLEASE EMAIL JOHN, HE HAS IT SAFE !!!
by Elaine Ward
The Village square was packed all weekend, with Elaine, as usual, doing the entertaining, with all sorts of dancing by the locals, the public and the girls from "The Helen Howard School of Dance.", who, despite a down pour during their routine, kept on going. Well done girls.
The Allies were in force as usual, as well as the Axis. With Kevin, Paul and Liz representing some of the US, and Keith and friends representing the "foreign" element.
Vehicles were parked in every conceivable space. The local council was very generous in having free parking in the main car parks all weekend, as well as shutting the road, thus leaving most of the spaces for military vehicles. so wherever you were in the village, there were bikes, trucks and jeeps, all over. It made for a very interesting walk for the public
The French Mayor, of our make shift French village, Chapelle- Des- Marais, being questions about the state of the German Occupation.
Two fly boys waiting for the off. Roland Edwards and Carl Richarson
Soldiers and vehicles just littered the streets all day, just by lounging around at street corners, did give the Yanks a natural, casual looking appearance.
Below, the end of the small battle to liberate the village, and the crowds watching, were so big, it was difficult to drive the jeep through. It was incredible the amount of people crammed into the little village square, to watch "Her Flick" get what was coming to him.
The street was packed with public and re-enactors, from one end to the other. Drivers had to extra careful of people getting very close to moving vehicles, but it made for a great spectacle.
Mathew, John and Roops.....
In Johns defence..... if an MP with a big white stick wants to hold your hand, you say "Yes !"
Roops give a heart warming thank you, to Elaine and John, for all their hard work in organizing this event,
followed by a rousing applause by everybody in the hall...
Sunday morning, again every space was used to park vehicles in. Here Phil, reverses his jeep in front of a French Cafe. The staff here were great, they really dressed the part of French waitresses.
This is Paul Marshall's 1942 DKW 350 NZ , 2 stroke Dispatch rider's runabout ...
NW-WW2 Association 51st Highland Division Black Watch Pipes and Drums.
They did a brilliant interval set on Saturday evening, and did us proud on the Sunday morning, leading the parade to lay a wreath at the memorial.
The Royal British Legion Wreath laid at the Ingleton Memorial on Sunday morning, by Sgt.Nick and Steve and the accompanying guard, which included the local sea cadets, and our own Homeguard.
Plenty of Cafes around the village, all becomming part of the 1940's spirit. The final parade of vehicles through the town, all of which can be seen on the below Youtube video by Lyn. There were so many people in the village at this point, you could hardly move.
During the afternoon, we were blessed with , on the Saturday, a good long, low level fly past and display for the Spitfire. On Sunday we had the Spitfire and the Dakota, with somebody, precariously hanging out the door and waving.....
The Proprietors of the Holly Grange Gust House, Ingleton, took a vast amount of
photos, here they all are on a photo sharing site, for free download....
Here are a couple of You Tube videos from the event.
Many thanks to the people who created these, it does give a better view of the event.
NOTE!
If anyone has some good photos of the event, and would like them here, I will try and include them.
So just e-mail them to John, email address on events page.
If anyone can put names to faces, it would be greatly appreciated. We know most of you, but not all.
Just give me a little time to sort out my photos.
Back to Photos Page - click here.