It’s show time! On the 11^th and 12^th of June, Wickstead Park once again threw open their doors and welcomed tanks and military vehicles from far and wide to the grounds. The museum at Armourgeddon is jam packed with tanks, vehicles, even a Bell 47 Helicopter. When we visit shows like this, moving tanks takes a huge amount organisation, planning and manpower, but once we are there, especially Wickstead At War, we have such a great time.

Wickstead at War brings history to life with hundreds of military vehicles on display, a full arena of entertainment, fly-bys, battles, stalls and much much more. On the 80th anniversary of the first Spitfire flight, the show also had a Spitfire on the ground to view this year.

On Friday, our Centurion and Poppy, our FV432 call sign 69 Alpha were rolled onto low-loaders and shipped off to Wickstead. Set up and ready, the schools day on Friday afternoon saw two hundred children visit to learn about and experience the ambience of a replica World War II scenario.

The arena events began at 10am on Saturday and included

An Armour Display, a British Army REME Recovery display, Man vs Tank challenges, a British vehicle display, the Light Tank stunt Team, an American vehicle display, Rolling Thunder firepower display and our favourite event; The World War II battle as Allied Forces take on a German fortification with tanks.

This year the Wickstead at War team had created a living history display of Check Point Charlie. An icon of the Berlin crisis of 1961 and escalating Cold War, Check Point Charlie on the Berlin Wall would often see both the Allies and Soviets park up tanks facing each other at either end of the Checkpoint in some tense stand offs durin the 1960’s. These tanks included Soviet T-55’s and Allied M41 Walker Bulldogs.

Some of the other vehicles that were on show included the British CVR(T) Scimitar and Scorpion light tanks, trucks dating from World War II to current in service, communications vehicles, engineering and recover vehicles, scout vehicles, armored cars and a large collection of military Land Rovers.

No show would be complete without Reenactors who man the battles in the main arena. Wickstead at War had several large groups who created authentic camps with personal military equipment and a field hospital.

The procession of tanks through the arena managed to keep the rain at bay and delighted the spectators at the end of the afternoon.

The 1940s party in the Wicksteed Park Pavilion on the Saturday encouraged singing and dancing until the early hours with live music, featuring the Bombshell Belles, the Kalamazoo Dance Band and 1940’s DJ Major Swing & Kitty as well as our favourite group, the D-Day Darlings.

Having won the Best in Show price for our Centurion in 2015, it was time to hand back the trophy for it to be awarded to this year’s winner.

However, one of our most frequent show visitors, Dave, an 84 year old retired SAS veteran presented us with a n SAS Regiment plaque for us to display in our museum.

Our museum on site is open year around, from 9am to 5pm. Cost is £5 for entry, under 5s go free. The museum is packed full with military vehicles, ammunition, interactive displays and military paraphernalia and can easily entertain for a long afternoon for kids, enthusiasts and historians alike.

Until next year, Wickstead at War!