Chatham Historic Dockyard hosts annual 40's festival

The yearly celebration has a variety of live entertainment and education with military parades and tours.  Henry Luck reports.

Transcript

00:00Taking place in the Historic Dockyard in Chatham, Salute to the 40s gives Kent residents a chance

00:10to go back in time to the days of swing, jazz and army parades.

00:15So Salute to the 40s, we are celebrating the 40s here at the Historic Dockyard Chatham.

00:22We make a brilliant backdrop because of our site and our period buildings and so we're

00:28just celebrating the 40s.

00:31Every autumn, the event draws in thousands of people who love to get into the spirit

00:36of the time period by going retro with their wardrobe.

00:40It was great, you know what, it's nice and warm and it's sunny so that's always nice.

00:45We've had a couple of weekends, it's been horrible rain, we've been so lucky it's such

00:49a lovely day but the audience are amazing, obviously our dancers that come and dance

00:54with us, it's just a brilliant atmosphere and we enjoy it, it flies by.

00:57It's 45 minutes, it feels like five, but it's been great.

01:02It's been so much fun, the atmosphere's amazing, seeing everybody dressed up, sun's shining,

01:08there's so much going on and so much to see, it's a really, really good event.

01:11It's just the joyous place to be, you get to meet everybody that you've known for a

01:15long time, either online or in person and it's just, it's always a lovely day out to

01:20go to any event anyway, so yeah, it's been really enjoyable so far, really enjoying it.

01:25Subject to the weather, we've had a few different weather conditions.

01:28There's always something different here as well, it's something new each time we come,

01:32it's not always exactly the same event which is, you know, quite good for us really.

01:37Whilst celebrations are taking place, the Vintage Festival also serves to educate visitors

01:43about a time that faced one of the most terrible wars the world had ever seen.

01:49I'm standing behind the HMS Cavalier.

01:52Launched in 1947, the battleship has seen action from Norway all the way to the west.

02:00Today, it serves as a powerful memorial to the 142 Royal Navy ships that were sunk during

02:08World War II.

02:09There are hopes that the public and salute to the 40s will meet again someday, as money

02:16from the event will be going back into preserving the dockyard.

02:20Henry Luck for KMTV in Chatham.