‘One of Britain’s Best Vintage Festivals’ is back! Returning this year on Saturday 21st & Sunday 22nd September, it’s a weekend to put in your diaries!
From vintage vehicle parades, live music and entertainment, hundreds of re-en actors, live displays, air raid experiences, PLUS our galleries and exhibitions are open too!
After all that exploring, you’re sure to be hungry and thirsty! Fear not there’s no rations here at The Dockyard so why not dig in to some traditional Fish and Chips for dinner at The Mess Deck.
Explore this page to find out what’s happening at the weekend…
Please note:
| Tickets | Ticket price
1st May – 20th September |
Ticket price
On the day |
2 day ticket price
1st May – 20th September |
2 day ticket price
On the day |
| Adult | £19.50 | £22.00 | £29.25 | £33.00 |
| Concession Senior Citizen, Ex-Forces, HM Forces with ID and Students | £17.50 | £19.50 | £26.25 | £29.25 |
| Child Aged 5 – 15 years(Under 5’s go FREE!) | £12.75 | £14.50 | £19.15 | £21.75 |
| Family | £52.75 | £59.50 | £79.15 | £89.25 |
| Additional Child | £8.00 | £10.50 | £12.00 | £15.75 |
It’s time to warm up those vocals! Music will fill the air with two music stages of 40’s classics!
Reminisce with early 1940s wartime nostalgic at one stage, or get jazzed up with vintage songs from the late ’40s at another.
Take a look below at the acts joining us for Salute! More to be announced soon!
Finalists in Britain’s Got Talent 2018, the UK’s premier wartime act are joining us! Proud to be supported by Dame Vera Lynn and The Royal British Legion, they have raised thousands of pounds to help the RBL continue with their invaluable welfare work. After a fantastic performance last year, we are delighted that The D-Day Darlings are back with us on BOTH days this year!
Back by popular demand, Adam Hoffman will also be joining Salute to the ’40s on both days too!
Adam “Keeping people thoroughly entertained since 1993”
Use Hashtags:
#thefunnyfool #keepcalmandbookus
Plus NEW for 2019 – Miss Holiday Swing will be performing both days! She has been delighting audiences up and down the country at many vintage events and is very excited to be part of Salute to the 40’s!
Brandyn Shaw is widely acclaimed as one of the country’s most authentic vintage entertainers. He has notably appeared on the BBC’s Len Goodman’s Dance Band Days, and numerous BBC radio programmes, talking about and re-enacting one of the greatest crooners of the period – Al Bowlly.
Pearly Entertainer Mickie Driver recalling the Stars who kept up Britain’s Spirits through WW2
The Knightingales are a three part harmony vintage trio that performs well known classics from the 40s 50s and 60s as well as modern music with a vintage twist!
The girls are delighted to be performing their ‘Salute to the 40’s’ debut. They are sure to have you “boogie woogie-ing” as you “Sing Sing Sing” the whole day through!
Their captivating vocals, bewitching choreography and beautiful costumes will transport you back to an era oozing elegance and glamour.
The Dolly Girls are versatile performers who met whilst working in West End and International shows. Their combined theatrical credits include; Mamma Mia! We Will Rock You, Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Beauty and the Beast, Legally Blonde, Hello Dolly! Grease, Guys and Dolls, Wicked, Chicago, 42nd Street, White Christmas and Singin’ in the Rain.
The Dolly Girls have performed at many events and shows including the famous ‘Winter Wonderland’ (Hyde Park), Floridita (Soho), The Amex Stadium (Brighton), The Round Table (Leicester Square) and overseas in Abu Dhabi and Istanbul. This will be their 4th time performing at Salute and their favourite festival in the calendar!
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Relive the 1940s with the help of hundreds of re-enactors over the weekend!
Here are some things not to be missed!:
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Whilst music of the late 1940s fills the air, there will be plenty of family fun to do too!
Here are some of the things you can get up to…
More to be announced soon!
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The British Evacuees Association was formed in 1996 with the support of the Imperial War Museum. Formerly known as The Evacuees Reunion Association, the registered charity has held lots of events throughout the country during that time notably, a service at Westminster Abbey, a five day event at St James’s Park, but the most high profile to date being a service for former evacuees at St Paul’s Cathedral, London on 1st September, 2009, which was attended by 1800 of their members to commemorate 70 years since the start of The Second World War.
Come and see the British Evacuees Association this year at Salute to the ‘40s! Their friendly hardworking team will be in the Edward Holl room in the No.1 Smithery.
Photograph showing HRH The Duke of Gloucester and Maurice Blik, the sculptor of Our National Memorial to the Evacuation
Local charity the Friends of Chatham Traction are restoring the sole surviving Chatham & District bus as the centrepiece of “The Medway Heritage Bus”, an educational resource to further the study of local and social history.
The Chatham & District Traction Company operated local bus services throughout Medway from 1930 to 1955. The bus is GKE 68, a 1939 Bristol K-type. It ran throughout the 1940s carrying servicemen and workers to and from Chatham Dockyard and the barracks of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Engineers nearby, whilst continuing to serve the local population and industries. Restoration is now reaching the detail stage. The bodywork has been completely rebuilt whilst retaining as much of the original as possible. Mechanical items are now receiving attention.
The Friends will be on hand throughout both days to talk about their project and explain its significance.
Download their leaflet here.
