Is it a Bird? Is a plane? NO! It's multiple planes, tanks and stalls, it's the Cosby Victory Show! This is probably going to be my biggest entry yet, so let's getting cracking. We have alot of ground to cover. (Shot on Samsung S23 Ultra)
So right off the bat, admission into the Victory Show is £25, now I didn't particularly feel like going and to be fair it's the end of the month so I'm strapped for fund. Ellie actually paid the ticket for me because she really wanted me to come; A - So she had someone to go with. B - Because my phone camera has the better zoom, it's the Samsung S23 U, hers is I believe the iPhone 14 Plus (Not Pro). Still a good device and camera, just not got the super zoom, but I digress.
So as soon as you walk in you're £25 down, we parked in the tree field outside the festival otherwise that's another £30 or so gone before you've even seen anything yet...
We stroll on in, weaving our way around various food trucks and people's camp spots they've set up to try and avoid the blistering sun.
Worth noting we got up at seven and got to the admission window around eight forty or so, so it was early for me as someone who works till midnight. I didn't have work the day prior thankfully but was still up late enough from Pride! So it was a packed weekend to say the least.
So what is the Victory Show? Well if the title wasn't enough of a clue, it's in celebration of winning world war two, along with an agglomeration of paraphernalia and automotives from both world wars. From Bikes to Jeeps, they've got it all, most of it genuine from the era having survived the world wars. They've been maintained and preserved to withstand the sands of time just that bit longer, there's apprantly a few recreations laying around but I don't know which is what. I'm just a casual spectator!
I must say they did an excellent job with the actors for the walkthrough exhibits. They were live pieces, actors along with some genuine veterans, kept in individual scenes. Here's an example, so imagine a bunch of little fenced off displays; There's a tent, a wood fire, maybe some old school army cooking equipment. A proper laid out set, then they have the actors just living as if they're actually in ww2, talking about the war, where their troop is heading next after this camp, etc. It's all very well put together, generally they seem to disappear in the tents to check their phones but sometimes you'd catch one with their phone out in public. It was fun to joke about though, at one point me and Ellie saw a lady dressed up in a field nurse costume on her way back to her camp, after having been Tesco and holding a Tesco bag in her hand. Quite an amusing clash of the ages, a bit anachronistic on the odd occasion but mainly, everyone did an amazing job keeping the layout immersive.
Nine Days At Arnhem
Now I'm not a major history buff, so here's a brief bit of research off Google.
"The Battle of Arnhem was a battle of the Second World War at the vanguard of the Allied Operation Market Garden. It was fought in and around the Dutch city of Arnhem, the town of Oosterbeek, the villages Wolfheze and Driel and the vicinity from 17 to 26 September 1944.
After nine days of fighting, the remnants of the division were withdrawn in Operation Berlin. The Allies were unable to advance further with no secure bridges over the Nederrijn and the front line stabilised south of Arnhem. The 1st Airborne Division lost nearly three quarters of its strength and did not see combat again." - Wikipedia
Link to souces, may not be 100% accurate as I'm not investing hours into research:
Guns blazing and controlled smoke fills the forest, we're fully immersed betwixt both sides of a battle that happened almost eighty years ago.
I can't tell you how much self control it took to not purchase a pink BB gun. Now we move onto the market stalls of the Victory show, filled with articles of virtu and objets d'art. I kept looking at the steel toe'd army boots but alas, I my feet were outsized for the available options.
Along with one of the stands offering not material matter but lyrical treasures to remember. Quite the surprise but a lovely performance!
Now it's time to find a spot to watch the next war reenactment. I don't recall the name for this battle unfortunately. Do remember I'm a causal viewer here, not an expert. We lay our picnic blanket just before the edge of the hill and besit ready to watch the reenactment, which starts in... almost two hours... However it's a good job we got here that early as it wouldn't take long for all the good spots to fill up. This event had alot of attendees.
Might not look so here but further along, you couldn't see one spec of green on the hill after everyone had shown up.
Let the battle commence.
As just a little side note, me and my friend Jedson can actually be seen sitting on the hill. In this footage from Leicester Mercury! Dad I'm on the news! (He's also been in the background of the news before). We're featured in a video which I've screenshotted, along with till photography that I've downloaded. I'll link the original articles. To be clear, I do not own the media in this paragraph but I'm reposting with links under fair use. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/local-news/soldiers-battle-epic-second-world-8724079.amp
The guy holding the umbrella is Jedson, the guy on the left with the braided ponytail is me.
Now, finally, the Airshow portion of The Victory Show. I can't remember the names of any of these planes so you're just getting the photographery, and a compilation of clips from in-between.
And with that, the victory show has came to an end. We left once all the major planes had been featured in the show. Io wasn't expecting to like it this much as in previous years I didn't massively enjoy it. Overall I'm glad I attended, especially as I now have this little blog as an outlet for my photography and creativity! I'll see you whenever I next post, this article was exceptionally large so don't get too use to it. It's not often I have this much to content ready to go!
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