Don't Be Afraid Darling

There was an interesting little scene near the entrance to the Photography Show.

It was a reenactment of life in the 1940s. There was a Nissan Hut and a little garden scene, which I am showing here.

The people that take part are all fans of vintage, and really enjoy dressing up and pretending that they are living in that era. They call themselves 'Timeline Events'.

Of course they were attracting lots of attention from all the photographers that were coming in and they were all queuing up to take photos. The 'actors' were only too pleased to pose for everyone.

I caught them on the way out, when there weren't that many people around, which made it a lot easier to get the shot without having to dodge other people.

Greased Lightning

After I had finished taking photos at Donington Park last week, I stopped off at the Aeropark museum close to East Midlands Airport.

It's a relatively small open air museum compared to say Hendon, and is right next to one of the airports' runways, but they have quite an impressive collection of military planes, such as a Canberra, a Nimrod, a Vulcan and this prime example of an English Electric Lightning.

So That's What They Call A Jumbo Jet

I went on a safari today, hunting for elephants, armed of course with my trusty OMD.

I came across this one in the Victoria Centre, trying to disguise himself as an RAF plane. Somehow painting yourself a bright red didn't work. Maybe he should have used the more traditional camouflage colours.

Review Of The Year - November & December

November of course included Remembrance Sunday. I hadn't really attended one before, as I usually watch it on TV. So I popped down to see Beeston's version. Obviously nowhere as big as they have in other places, but it was very well attended, and plenty to photograph, including several wreathes to those lost to war.

On a more happier note, December saw Gail and I take some pre-wedding photographs of a nurse that Gail knows called Gemma and her fiancee David. We had a very good afternoon's shoot with them, despite the overcast sky, and they were pleased with the photos that we sent them. Incidentally they are getting married early in the new year. And yes, we will be doing the photography.

I hope you have enjoyed flitting through my photographic year over the past few days. Looking back over the last twelve months, I've been surprised at how many events I've been to and what I've managed to photograph on my Olympus OMD. I've also got better at using Lightroom. Although I don't do a lot to my photographs, unless I really want to and the image is crying out to be drastically altered.

Besides the everyday photography around the streets of Nottingham, I wonder what events, places and people I will get to photograph during 2014? Whatever it will be, I am looking forward to finding out.

Remembering

As most people know today is Remembrance Sunday. The day in the year that the country honours its dead for defending the freedoms that we all enjoy today.

On 'Poppy Day' as it's usually known, practically every city, town and village people gather at war memorials and fall silent at 11am, the time of day that hostilities ceased in 1918; World War 1.

As it was a lovely morning, I thought I would go and pay my respects and take some photos too. There were a lot of people there waiting to do the same.

There was a march past of present forces' personnel, local Scout and Brownie groups and of course veterans from the Royal Legion.

Everyone fell silent at the allotted time. Then local dignitaries laid wreathes of poppies around the war memorial. Then most people went to the local church to attend a service of thanksgiving for the sacrifice that people had made during the many conflicts that the world has seen during the last 100 years, and is still going on today.

I then had a look at the wreathes and where they had come from. I thought this one was colourful and poignant.  Dead at 22. Alec probably hadn't seen much life outside his home town until he enlisted and worked his way up to being a pilot. I wonder what planes he flew? Spitfires, Lancaster's Hurricanes. Whatever he did fly, his life was snubbed out far too soon by the enemy.

And what about 22 year olds now, I wonder if they have ever compared their life to that of someone of their own age, who died nearly 70 years ago. No X Box, mobile phone or DVDs for Alec. Just the knowledge that what he was doing was right, even though it cost him his life.

Big Boys' Toys

Armed Forces Day today and so Gail and I popped down this afternoon to see what excitement there was to be found. And there was plenty. Although we had missed quite a bit, as it had started at 10am in the Old Market Square with a march from the castle and a flypast by the Red Arrows.

I was in Beeston this morning, covering the first Great Beeston Bake-Off.  A cookery competition to raise funds for Oxfam when the planes flew over the school where it was taking place. I was photographing the opening ceremony with my camera in 'P' mode, so unfortunately I couldn't take a photo, as my camera was struggling to focus. It would have been OK in auto, and might have got a couple of good shots. Sadly it wasn't to be.

There were loads of people around. It has been estimated that 70,000 visitors had gone down to show their support for the soldiers, sailors and airmen. With that many people wandering around, it was sometimes a bit difficult trying to take reasonable shots of the vehicles on display.

There was some music on offer too, in the form of an Abba Tribute band called Arrival UK, who were very good and the nearest thing to the real Abba you'll find, with their singing, costumes and tunes.

We were still wandering around long after most of the people had left, so we more or less had the site to  ourselves. While we were taking unrestricted photos of the vehicles, I noticed that one by one they were starting to leave the site. So we hung around and snapped them being driven away, or being loaded onto very big low loaders.

We'll Meet Again

I paid a visit to Wollaton Park today as it was hosting the Veteran's Weekend. A yearly event to remember all those fallen souls who fought for peace and freedom.

There were a lot of things going off, battle re-enactments, military vehicle displays, a parachute drop and music. Among the musical offerings were a couple dressed up as wartime entertainers, singing songs of the period.

Johnny Victory and Frances Belle were quite entertaining with their renditions of songs from the 1940s. Their RAF uniforms look quite authentic with their ENSA (Entertainments National Service Association) badges. Some well known people were members of ENSA. They included Joyce Grenfell, Wilfrid Brambell and George Formby.

Here's a shot of Frances singing along to another well known wartime hit. Should you want to learn more about the group that she is in, here's their website link.

All Fire, No Spit!

For our last day in Woodhall Spa, we decided to visit Tattershall Castle, a National Trust property, about six miles from the small town.

The castle is quite amazing to look at and was restored during the early part of the 20th century. It originally dates from the 15th century.

It has six floors, and you get to see some great views of the Lincolnshire countryside from the battlements.

But what made it extra special today was that a Spitfire flew over the castle whilst we were there. The RAF Battle of Britain Memorial Flight is stationed at an airfield very close to the castle, and they all took off this afternoon to fly for an event in Lowestoft.

Besides the Spitfire, the Memorial Flight includes, a Lancaster bomber, a Hurricane and a Dakota. Unfortunately neither the Lancaster or Hurricane came out well, and it was an extra surprise to see the Dakota about fifteen minutes later.

Dambuster's March

In the centre of Woodhall Spa is a fitting monument to the airmen of the 617 squadron, who flew in Lancaster bombers over Germany to destroy the dams there.

They used a very unusual sort of bomb, in that it bounced on the water before hitting it's target. It didn't look like a bomb either; more of a giant beer barrel.

The monument is distinctive, with the names of all the RAF personnel involved in Operation Chastise, but didn't live to see its success, together with the emblem of the RAF and list of targets.

The most famous of all the airmen involved is that of Guy Gibson. He was played by Richard Todd in the 1955 film called The Dambusters.

During the war there were quite a number of airfields in Lincolnshire. Many have disappeared, but some remain, or have been turned into tourist attractions.

Ground Control To Major Tom

The Royal Air Force were in town last week on a recruitment campaign, with various stands and military hardware on show. The pride of place being this training jet. I am fortunately too old for them and I do come from a sea faring family, as one of my granddad being a captain in the Royal Navy.