Heading to a show with a tank takes a huge amount organisation, planning and manpower, but once we are there, especially Wickstead At War, we have such a great time. This year was no exception- despite having all 4 seasons in a weekend, the event was wall-to-wall-fun!

The team at Armourgeddon finally finished painting the Centurion on Thursday evening, (we’ve written about her a couple of times before (Centurion tank blog 01, Centurion tank blog 2 ).Not that this was slightly close to deadline, we loaded her onto the low-loader on Friday morning and headed to Wickstead Park for the military re-enactment and celebration event. Poppy, our FV432 that was named last year upon the centenary celebrations of WWI also headed off to Wickstead along with a number of the team here and a 10-man tent!

Arriving at Wickstead, the team completed a set up of their pitch- and of course their tent (!) just in time for the arrival of the hoards of children visiting on the Friday from the schools and academies of the area.

After a day chatting to the children about what it’s like to drive a tank, some others of the team arrived and it was time to don our dancing shoes for the 70s inspired D-I-S-C-O! Cameras were banned (honest) so sadly there aren’t any pictures of the team dancing…. Shame!

Saturday morning, we woke up to rain, rain and more rain. A bleak day- but it didn’t dampen our spirits! We had lots of visitors to talk to all day and visitors to the show and their umbrellas had a great day! The afternoon culminated in a Road Run- a tour around the event headed up by the Sherman tank of one of our fellow collectors. The Sherman was also in Fury- just like ours, but today, carried a Veteran of the D-Day Landings. What an honour it was to follow such a hero.

Joining the procession were an M24 Chaffee, an Austrian Armoured Personnel Carrier, our FV432 Poppy, a Wiesel AWC and a CRVT (Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance Tracked) Sabre. The convoy delighted the guests to the show and finally brought a cease to the rain!

Saturday night saw the grand prize-giving event, a 40s inspired party in the main marquee. To save the couple of quid charged, turning up in full 40s dress provided free entry and requiring little more than a nod at the best of times to get dressed up, of course our whole team were there in our finest period dress! Again, sadly, cameras were banned (!) but far more important than the dancing, WE WON! The Centurion won the prize for Best in Show and we could not have been more chuffed if we’d won the lottery (well, maybe, but you get the idea- pretty high on the scale of chuffed-ness!)

Sunday morning saw glorious weather and crowds and crowds of visitors to the show. We spent a fabulous day talking tanks and Tank Paintball Battle with the visitors and had numerous entertaining events including a lady taking photos for a charity calendar wishing to sit legs-akimbo of the gun… maybe not realising in advance quite how high that was…) and a gentleman who had previously driven a Centrurion- the last time being in 1948. It is such an honour to speak to people who have actually used our hobby pieces in keeping our country safe.

By 5pm it was time for the low-loader to return, pick us up and bring us back to Southfield Farm. What a fabulous weekend and to top it all off- WE WON!!!!

We have won one prize before at Wickstead at War, but that was a booby prize- a fake bar of gold bullion in a Nazi style box as a nod of respect to our Sherman through reference to Kelly’s Heros. But to win because we were BEST IN SHOW… well, we will dine out on that one for years to come!

Hopefully we will see you at Wickstead at War next year when we will return to defend our win!

See more in our Military Vehicle Museum

To see more info on the Wicksteed At War show click here