Milton Keynes Museum will be turning back the clock with the return of its 1940s weekend this September.
Visitors on the 6 & 7th September will be able to step right into history, with all of the sights, sounds and events from the decade.
Home front reenactors will help younger visitors get hands on with some of the games from the era (not an iPad in sight), and over in the stables, you can settle back with fabulous 40s films and check in with newsreels, Pathe style.
Storyteller Neil Storey will be in uniform and sharing 'Tommies Tales', joining Desert Rats re-enactors and USA GI's, giving an insight into training for conflict.
Make-do-and-mend was standard during the thrifty decade, and in the Street of Shops, the cobbler will be fixing up shoes, while the grocer and butcher will show you just how much, or rather how little, rations entitled households to.
The sweet shop will be open for business too, for those sweet-toothed cravers among you, no ration book required there!
Over in the Museum's cottage, Peggy Skivvy will explain what life was like for the home-makers while their husbands and sons were off fighting for King and Country.
A steam engine, and selection of smaller agricultural examples will be in the Museum grounds, where a small number of WWI military lorries and transport trucks will also be parked up.
The railways at War exhibition is also on track, and kids will be kept busy following the clues found throughout the Museum to locate Guy the Spy!
A selection of wedding dresses will show parachute silk in a new light, and fans of vintage fashion will be able to treat themselves with traders selling '40s fashion for the ladies, including shoes and handbags, and vintage jewellery.
If military gear is more your style, you'll be in luck, and the 'latest' in ornaments and nick-nacks will be ready to find new homes.
Animals and birds played a significant part in the wartime effort, and the Museum will be shining a light on the wonderful work completed by our feathered friends – many pigeons received the Dickin Medal for their bravery in delivering important messages which saved many lives, and some of those brilliant little birds completed tasks while injured.
The ever-popular Lola Lamour will invite you to go with the flow on the dancefloor, and Johnny Victory will sing for you from the bandstand.
If the weather stays fine, visitors will be eyes to the sky for a fabulous flyspast by a BBMF Lancaster (Sunday only) which is one of only two still flying.
With so much to see and do, you'll need to top up your energy levels, and the Granary Tea Room will banish hunger pangs with a range of hot and cold savoury and sweet snacks.
The Museum bar will be serving a selection of beers and ciders, and while a pint won't be at 1940s prices, you'll not find a cheaper one for miles!
“Wartime was notoriously difficult, but there was also much to celebrate as people pulled together in the face of the troubles and uncertainty,” said Museum director Bill Griffiths, “There is so much more to learn about the Warring Forties than simply the conflict – join us and prepare to be surprised,” he added.
