D Day event Bushy park

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

To mark the 80th anniversary of D Day and remember the fact that the landing was planned from the camp in the park, we are holding ANOTHER D Day event. A bit greedy, two in ten years, but…

Two actually, next Sunday  and the following. 2nd and 9th to straddle the actual date.

We will be waving the flag, playing patriotic tunes and playing with the vast array of WW2 craft at our disposal, focussing on our luvly landing craft.

I have been assisting Trevor to finally finish his 1/32 corvette ( its a whopper) as a visual treat.

All welcome, please bring something WW2 related preferably.

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Wow! I thought a 1/48th Corvette was a good size but 1/32nd!  That should have a presence on the water.

I’m doing a bike ride through some local villages on classic motorcycles on the evening of the 6th so looking forward to that.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Yes It’s 2m long…

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

All being well. we should be on holiday that week. However we know the D Day beaches and cemeteries very well having visited many times over the years. It is not difficult to envisage the violence of the battle. The ‘Atlantic Wall’ gun emplacements are still there, frequently with the guns still inside them, while the craters left by the naval bombardment are still very evident. The caissons comprising the outer breakwater of the British Mulberry Harbour are still in position.

The cruiser HMS Ajax provided gunfire support to suppress the shore batteries and one of her shells hit the barrel of an emplaced German gun and broke it off. The gun can still be seen with the severed barrel half buried in the earth underneath it!

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Found this. Could be just the thing

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Also, this is a card model produced by Lone*Star.

It was printed on both sides and then folded up as shown. The thing is very realistic, considering.

It complimented their soldiers and die cast  army vehicles. I think I will make a trip to EKA stationery and get some thin card and have a go. A dimensioned sketch as per the museum example is all that’s needed. An example made up and painted, manned by poundland soldiers would provide impetus.

HOWEVER, the museum example does fit on a sheet of A4…whether the paper is good enough to make the thing from and decorate it…?

The museum one is taped together. The lone star one was folded like a box. I think glued tabs would be better.

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Just a thought Ashley, which I don’t want you to see as a criticism as I have a huge respect for what you do with the park and encouraging kids however.

I think it is a fine line to draw between honouring the sacrifices made by those who gave their lives during D-Day and teaching kids about it, while avoiding trivialising it all.  While I agree we have to educate in an attempt to prevent such things happening again we also have to get the point across of the horrors involved and just was was sacrificed by those involved.  I sometimes wonder when we involve so much play in such events does the real message get lost.

As an example we used to have a 40’s weekend in my local village, which was getting bigger and bigger every year.  Eventually it became so big it got out of hand and the organisers all backed out.  Part of the problem was that it was becoming more and more of a party, with ever increasing quantities of alcohol involved, and more about people from outside flooding the place with the intention of making money out of it.  I also notice a very similar thing has happened to the 40s weekend in Howarth in Yorkshire, which has taken a year off while they try to think of ways of getting the real message back on track.

I don’t have any answers, I’m just putting food for thought out there.  If it was me I’d have “Saving Private Ryan” compulsory viewing in every school but we would probably run out of therapists pretty quickly!

You’re a braver man than me for taking on such challenges, I hope it all goes well on the day.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Up to the individual Richard.

The D-Day museum thinks it’s OK to dish out plans for their major exhibit at Southsea for children to make.

Yes several of those sorts of events get out of hand and give re enacting a bad name. Bushy is a dry venue thankfully….

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

I wasn’t just talking about the plans, it was more things in general.

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Bear in mind that many of these kids(or their older brothers)  are probably engaged in slaughtering each other online in very graphic computer gameplays!

When I was a youngster, I and many others were very much into Wargaming (Naval in my case). We used to enact Jutland and WW2 battles on the floor of the local village hall using 1:1200 scale models. In fact the Naval Wargames Society of which I was co founder back in 1967 is still going strong!

Whilst it all may sound a bit bloodthirsty (particularly the military versions), it was also a demanding intellectual exercise and the research needed gave us an in depth understanding of the technology, history and reality of what conditions were like for the sailors and soldiers.

When I was much younger, it was all about playing cowboys and indians at school with our toy guns. It’s natural for young boys to be drawn to this sort of thing but thankfully they grow up and out of it in virtually all cases. (perhaps not in the gun obsessed USA though).

There are however plenty of re enactment societies which remain incredibly popular with adults all over the world such as the Sealed Knot which is a registered charity!

Home

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Knocked up the museum lander. It’s not very big.

Painted, embellished inside with corrugated card..

Not a million miles away from 4mm ply and a motor???

Ashley

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Ashley, is there any way the ramp could be held in place by tabs and slots so it could be lowered?

[Richard SimpsonModerator @richardsimpson88330]

Colin, Many years ago the Sealed Knot did an enactment weekend at Shibden Hall, when I was living in Halifax.  They lived the entire weekend as they would have at the time so you could walk around the encampment and see them cooking and how they lived.  Then, during the day, they enacted a couple of battles.  It was very realistic and left a very powerful impression.

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Richard. Yes it could have small tabs that could engage in slots to keep the ramp up. In fact, the instructions omitted in my sheet suggest that if you don’t tape up the bow then it could be positioned up or down.

it was sized to fit A4, but it fits ‘comfortably’ and could usefully be 40mm bigger. I tabbed the stern.

I am going to explore this card idea in Todays Boating, as a means to stimulate kiddy interest.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Update on todays boating. One Sunday left to bring your WW2 craft to Bushy! (Ulez camera down, vandalised, when approaching from Hampton Court….)

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Tomorrow for our second D-Day event. Will have sea, sand. Beach defences, barbed wire and very big coastal defence fort as the grassy knoll main display. Extra large corvette and lander in tje water besides smaller landers. I will also take the Terrapin. Designed for d day but in the event not used until later.

Ashley

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

Display a bit better , but there’s not much you can do on a bumpy bit of grass! Ashley

[Len Morris 2Participant @lenmorris2]

Excellent effort Ashley.  That’ll do!

Len

[Colin BishopModerator @colinbishop34627]

Excellent in the circumstances Ashley, I imagine the passing public appreciated it. Full marks for making the effort with the others.

Colin

[ashley needhamParticipant @ashleyneedham69188]

<p style=”text-align: center;”>Thanks chaps. It was eye catching.</p>
Continuing on Today’s boating. Egham show soon. A D-day diorama would be good for my table. Better ‘sand’ and so on.

Ashley

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