This weekend we made it to the last Salute to The '40s event at Chatham Historic Dockyard, a celebration of the Home Front during the Second World War.
Sadly, this popular event is being axed from the Dockyard's calendar because of declining visitor numbers, not that you would have known that from the heaving crowds this weekend.
This event has long been a highlight of Rachel's year and so we were determined to make it for this grand finale - even though I am currently only able to get about outdoors in a manual wheelchair, which my poor wife had to heroically push (and pull) across a variety of terrain.
As we've been discovering since I've lost the full use of my legs, the general public were lovely and offered helping hands as Rachel soldiered on across gravel, up and down kerbs (the smallest of which proved to be major obstacles to the narrow wheels of my chair), and even over sunken railway tracks!
In addition to the talented period music acts and fascinating living history demonstrations, the event also hosted children's entertainment (the bubble wrangler was superb), Charlie Chaplin on stilts (who made me want to visit a circus again), model trains, a plethora of period vehicles, and cute dogs... lots of cute dogs.
I guess it's true - like a lot of things - you only really begin to notice how many dogs are around you when you have your own little fur baby (Alice was spending the day with Rachel's parents).
This event has long been a highlight of Rachel's year and so we were determined to make it for this grand finale - even though I am currently only able to get about outdoors in a manual wheelchair, which my poor wife had to heroically push (and pull) across a variety of terrain.
As we've been discovering since I've lost the full use of my legs, the general public were lovely and offered helping hands as Rachel soldiered on across gravel, up and down kerbs (the smallest of which proved to be major obstacles to the narrow wheels of my chair), and even over sunken railway tracks!
In addition to the talented period music acts and fascinating living history demonstrations, the event also hosted children's entertainment (the bubble wrangler was superb), Charlie Chaplin on stilts (who made me want to visit a circus again), model trains, a plethora of period vehicles, and cute dogs... lots of cute dogs.
I guess it's true - like a lot of things - you only really begin to notice how many dogs are around you when you have your own little fur baby (Alice was spending the day with Rachel's parents).
As we didn't have Alice with us, we were also able to visit the Dockyard's Brickwrecks exhibition of famous shipwrecks recreated in LEGO, designed by the legend himself, Ryan 'The Brickman' McNaught from LEGO Masters Australia (the best of the LEGO Masters' global TV franchise).
NB. For those who don't already know, a lot of the BBC's top period drama Call The Midwife is filmed at the Dockyard. It's easy to wander around and spot recognisable backdrops, but the venue also hosts guided tours - which allows you access to areas not usually open to the public.
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| It's unfair to single out a "favourite" cute dog... but this was my favourite |
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| Bubbles!!! |
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| Me studying a Brickwreck |
