The Cotswold Airport Revival Festival

Let’s escape back to the good old days for one weekend… The Cotswold Airport Revival Festival invites you to step back in time for a vintage and wartime extravaganza.

The revival may be over for this year but I hope this post will encourage you to mark your calendars for 2019 and come along to the next event…

Location: Cirencester, Gloucestershire

I was kindly invited along to the Cotswold Airport Revival last weekend for what turned out to be a glorious sunny Saturday. Hundreds of people gathered on the airfield to capture what life in 1940s Britain was like – from cars to costumes, this event had it all. The two-day event offered exciting re-enactments and vintage air fly-ins; hundreds of classic cars and military vehicles; live entertainment; food and drink to suit all appetites and there’s even a fun fair to top it all off!

But first, coffee!

After a quick stop by a food van to grab brunch, we explored the grounds passing several vintage trade stalls along the way.

Of course we had to stop by the first food stall we saw…

Even the Military men couldn’t resist the fudge!

With so many flavours to choose from, we decided to hold back and return later to make our choice. After all, we didn’t know what other sweet treats were around the corner to tempt us….

My parents have always been interested in this era and I hold fond memories of my Grandparents speaking about life during this time… I’m so thankful that they survived and were able to tell their stories when so many others couldn’t.

We stopped to chat to a few of the characters who were roaming around site, dressed head to toe in what would have been worn in the 1940s. We couldn’t resist snapping some stills whilst we had their attention.

It’s fascinating to see how some of the trends from that time have come back into fashion, including the basket bags.

As we were browsing the stalls I spotted these beautiful Cult Gaia inspired clutches from Guns n Posies. Despite being highly impractical, I am slightly obsessed with these bags and had to retrain myself from buying one.

There were a number of trade stands to suit both men and women, of course.

I mean, men like Gin too, right?

After a brief gin tasting, we turned our attention to the arena behind us.

For £10 you could enjoy a ride on this Monster Truck, which looked a lot of fun and one of the cheaper attractions of the day. Perhaps not after an ice cream though…

There were sports cars, trucks and VWs on one side of the field…

… and helicopters and airplanes on the other side.

From checking out some vintage planes to stepping inside one. You could pay £40 for a short helicopter ride, or for £2, you could hop on this huge Cargo plane and learn more about the history of the Cotswold Airport.

Captain Mannering was on duty to tell you more…

It was fascinating to see the old sweet wrappers and the beautiful clothing pieces that women would have worn during the war era.

The plane was extremely warm so we decided to head back out and enjoy the beautiful blue sky.

This year marks the centenary of the end of WWI and also 100 years of the RAF. Throughout the weekend there were fundraising activities for the Royal British Legion and Flying for Freedom, two charities that support the armed forces and veterans.

At around 1.30pm, everyone gathered back around the arena – no, not for the Monster Trucks – but for The Lightning Bolts Army Parachute Display Team.

The team performed an incredible WWII themed parachute jump out of an AN-2 biplane, the world’s largest single engine bi-plane. Sporting vintage German military uniform, they were met on the ground by some of the festival’s re-enactors – including Winston Churchill, who gave his Finest Hour speech!

*Cue the Dad’s Army theme tune*

After the show, we continued to wander around the airfield to see what else was on offer.

This gentleman reminded me of Dick Van Dyke’s character in Mary Poppins, so naturally I had to take his photo… before having one taken with him.

We later realised he was dressed as the policeman in some of the earlier photographs we took.

Then Winston Churchill turned up…

…And made friends with Bert (as I decided to name him).

Not meaning to follow him around, but we spotted our ’40s friend enjoying a spot of live music.

A big thank you to the Live Promotions Ltd team and Cotswold Airport for inviting me along, for what turned out to be a fantastic day out. I’m already looking forward to what next year’s event will have in store…