I dedicate my song today to my (next-door-neighbour-but-one), neighbour Andrea Leathley and her husband Brian who celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary today. Andrea is the organiser for the 1940s Weekend that is held in Haworth every May. This is probably Haworth's major event of the year and is attended by thousands of visitors every year from all over Yorkshire.
This year, however, the event is cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown prohibiting mass social meetings and crowds mixing in public. Naturally, Andrea and Brian are disappointed but are resolved to make next year's 1940's weekend better than ever. If you attend this special weekend annually and you want to make next year's event the best ever, please donate that couple of £s you are currently unable to spend at the coffee shop or on a pint of beer at the pub. Your contribution can make a significant difference.
Andrea has to raise over £20,000 basic cost annually to get the event up and running. She devotes all of her spare time and every weekend of the year organising functions to fundraise the required amount. At the end of one year's dedicated effort, Haworth enjoys three days of 1940's nostalgia. The shops are decked out as 1940s shops, and every one of the thousands of residents and weekend visitors is dressed in clothes of the 1940s. From the park (where bands play and visitors dance in the fresh air), all the way up to the top of Main Street, bunting and flags fly overhead and the sound of the 'Forces Sweetheart', Vera Lynn can be heard singing wartime songs that raised the country's spirits during those dark days. Winston Churchill can be seen giving his wartime speeches as army trucks and vehicles filled with American and British military are parked all around. There is the local 1940's Policeman and there is always a Spiv on the corner selling his contraband war goods.There is usually a dozen tanks parked outside my front door and Andrea's and Brian's house. One year we even had the presence of a spitfire parked in the Bronte Museum Car Park. The end of the day is always marked by a fly pass overhead as a Spitfire zooms across the Bronte skies.
This 1940's weekend means a great deal to all Howarth residents and our visitors, but it means much more to Brian and Andrea than a weekend of wartime nostalgia. Ten years ago today, Brian Leathley wed Andrea Earnshaw as part of Haworth’s annual 1940s weekend. Brian wore his US serviceman’s uniform while Andrea wore a period wedding dress. The couple joined fellow members of the '101st Airborne' at their camp across the road for the wedding reception.
Brian, from Manchester, had been a member of the 'North West 101st Airborne Re-enactment Group' for several years. He got to know Andrea when he visited the war-weekend eight years earlier and she asked for a ride in his Jeep. Brian moved to Haworth to be closer to Andrea and they now live in North Street. Andrea became a 'nurse' in the re-enactment group’s 45th Field Hospital detachment, set up for wives and girlfriends.
The couple decided to wed as part of the 1940s weekend so they could re-enact a wartime wedding. It was a short hop across the road from the ceremony at West Lane Baptist Church to the reception. It was held in the 'camp' set up every year on West Lane by the 101st Airborne members. Brian told the Keighley News: “The wedding went well and everyone was so kind and helpful.” Andrea said some of Brian’s and her friends and families also dressed in period costumes for their wedding.
We all wish Brian and Andrea Leathley a happy wedding anniversary today. I spoke with Andrea briefly yesterday (from a safe distance) and asked her if she had any special plans this year as they could not go out and celebrate in the usual manner with the lockdown. Andrea simply gave me that smile of a woman's scheming brain in action as she replied, "Don't tell my Brian, Bill, I shouldn't be breathing a word, but let's just say that it involves two bottles of the best red in the house, and me wearing a shortened nurse's uniform and presenting my man with a promise he won't refuse!"
'Enough said' is what I say. All there is left to do now is to sing Brian and Andrea Leathley a celebratory song. It is
'Tonight, I Celebrate My Love'. This a romantic ballad was recorded by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack for their 1983 album of duets, ''Born to Love'. Like Andrea and Brian, the song became an instant smash hit! Happy anniversary, love birds. Enjoy your day....and night.
Love and peace Bill xxx
This year, however, the event is cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic and lockdown prohibiting mass social meetings and crowds mixing in public. Naturally, Andrea and Brian are disappointed but are resolved to make next year's 1940's weekend better than ever. If you attend this special weekend annually and you want to make next year's event the best ever, please donate that couple of £s you are currently unable to spend at the coffee shop or on a pint of beer at the pub. Your contribution can make a significant difference.
Andrea has to raise over £20,000 basic cost annually to get the event up and running. She devotes all of her spare time and every weekend of the year organising functions to fundraise the required amount. At the end of one year's dedicated effort, Haworth enjoys three days of 1940's nostalgia. The shops are decked out as 1940s shops, and every one of the thousands of residents and weekend visitors is dressed in clothes of the 1940s. From the park (where bands play and visitors dance in the fresh air), all the way up to the top of Main Street, bunting and flags fly overhead and the sound of the 'Forces Sweetheart', Vera Lynn can be heard singing wartime songs that raised the country's spirits during those dark days. Winston Churchill can be seen giving his wartime speeches as army trucks and vehicles filled with American and British military are parked all around. There is the local 1940's Policeman and there is always a Spiv on the corner selling his contraband war goods.There is usually a dozen tanks parked outside my front door and Andrea's and Brian's house. One year we even had the presence of a spitfire parked in the Bronte Museum Car Park. The end of the day is always marked by a fly pass overhead as a Spitfire zooms across the Bronte skies.
This 1940's weekend means a great deal to all Howarth residents and our visitors, but it means much more to Brian and Andrea than a weekend of wartime nostalgia. Ten years ago today, Brian Leathley wed Andrea Earnshaw as part of Haworth’s annual 1940s weekend. Brian wore his US serviceman’s uniform while Andrea wore a period wedding dress. The couple joined fellow members of the '101st Airborne' at their camp across the road for the wedding reception.
Brian, from Manchester, had been a member of the 'North West 101st Airborne Re-enactment Group' for several years. He got to know Andrea when he visited the war-weekend eight years earlier and she asked for a ride in his Jeep. Brian moved to Haworth to be closer to Andrea and they now live in North Street. Andrea became a 'nurse' in the re-enactment group’s 45th Field Hospital detachment, set up for wives and girlfriends.
The couple decided to wed as part of the 1940s weekend so they could re-enact a wartime wedding. It was a short hop across the road from the ceremony at West Lane Baptist Church to the reception. It was held in the 'camp' set up every year on West Lane by the 101st Airborne members. Brian told the Keighley News: “The wedding went well and everyone was so kind and helpful.” Andrea said some of Brian’s and her friends and families also dressed in period costumes for their wedding.
We all wish Brian and Andrea Leathley a happy wedding anniversary today. I spoke with Andrea briefly yesterday (from a safe distance) and asked her if she had any special plans this year as they could not go out and celebrate in the usual manner with the lockdown. Andrea simply gave me that smile of a woman's scheming brain in action as she replied, "Don't tell my Brian, Bill, I shouldn't be breathing a word, but let's just say that it involves two bottles of the best red in the house, and me wearing a shortened nurse's uniform and presenting my man with a promise he won't refuse!"
'Enough said' is what I say. All there is left to do now is to sing Brian and Andrea Leathley a celebratory song. It is
'Tonight, I Celebrate My Love'. This a romantic ballad was recorded by Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack for their 1983 album of duets, ''Born to Love'. Like Andrea and Brian, the song became an instant smash hit! Happy anniversary, love birds. Enjoy your day....and night.
Love and peace Bill xxx
