Severn Valley Railway's 1940s weekend goes virtual
Severn Valley Railway's popular 1940s weekend is going virtual for the first time.
Severn Valley Railway would have been hosting its special 1940s weekend on Saturday and Sunday, however due to coronavirus, it will now take place online, with archived footage encouraging fans to relive the event.
The railway, which runs from Kidderminster in Worcestershire to Bridgnorth in Shropshire, recently announced it would not be restarting passenger services until August, after having stopped them since March.
A fundraiser to keep the popular attraction going through the pandemic reached three quarters of a million pounds.
Now, people can relive the popular 1940s event by visiting social media this weekend. The railway's 1940s committee have compiled videos featuring previous events and will be posting these on Facebook at the weekend.
Covid-19 coverage:
Normal entertainment at the event ranges from re-enactments to music performances, with people dressing up in 1940s gear and celebrating the historic era.
Visit 'Severn Valley Railway 1940s event organiser updates' on Facebook to watch the archive footage.
Paul Bowler, the vice chairman of the SVR’s 1940s committee said: "The SVR Step Back to The 1940's event is still the benchmark against which all other similar event are measured. It is a serious revenue earner for the SVR, and not being able to welcome the public this year is just another element of financial loss.
"For committees past and present, the priorities have always been one of education - believing it to be important that we remember those who gave their lives for our freedom, and to inform generations that followed the scale and importance of those sacrifices. The event focuses primarily on what life was like for those on the homefront.
"Aside from the two weekends on which this is normally staged (this would have been June 27th & 28th, and July 4th & 5th) on each of the days in the week intervening, we additionally support the SVR Education Team by helping to teach pupils from visiting schools about all elements of WW11 on the homefront e.g. rationing, air raid shelters, the roles of officials such as ARP wardens, firefighters and the police."
