FREE PHOTO ARTICLE: We Have Ways Fest 5

Firstly, I want to say thanks for your patience the last few weeks whilst I’ve been racing about the planet. This all culminated in a stint last weekend at We Have Ways 2025, which is the best WW2 festival going in the UK at this point, and below is a set of images from my phone. Turns out I universally suck at taking photos during talks… I spoke on the Philippines, 1945, on Sunday morning with the hangover shift, (aided by magnificent graphics by Bart) and normal service will resume at the end of the week with a proper write up on that for those who missed it. In the meantime, I hope these a variation on what you might have seen elsewhere online…

We set up a Great War Group stall with some traditional merch (above) and debuted a new t-shirt…

As ever, we’re reliant on members who have paid their hard earned pennies to attend James and Al’s event helping us out throughout the course of the weekend. Here’s Doug (the Bounty Hunter) looking dapper and chatting to a punter…

I did remember to take a photo of Norma! Ms. Graham came all the way from Canada to tell us about Canadian adventures in the Baltic.

Massive thanks for the loan of the pump!

And an even bigger shoutout to Simon at Red 5 for the donation of this stunning model. On the one side, faithful to a battle scene, and on the other, a diligent representation of the same tank in a museum, complete with 3D printing and utterly unique. We’ll be auctioning this off at our conference in Bristol next month…

My book pile of shame was a lot smaller than last year, but one thing I bought and I’m not a bit sorry for it, is a stack of French Army photographs from 1940.

Kate Vigurs looking outstanding in period dress here, and a selection of all the demo gear she had on display for her SOE talks at the tent. Including a rat who gets explosives wedged up its undercarriage… and a big fake lump of exploding “coal”

My favourite moment in the Green Room might have been listening to a collection of the American speakers trying to fathom what a Yorkshire pudding wrap was and why one would eat such a thing…

Here’s a shot of the walkthrough for the ENSA show, which I had great fun participating in as an Essex girl munitions worker looking for love… Here, Charlie Hinson is channelling his inner Churchill whilst James Holland does Roosevelt and somewhere in the back Ben Willbond is doing an uncanny rendition of Stalin. Below is what they looked liked from backstage during the show…

And here’s Ben and Charlie again, with James in the back and Joey pulling a face as they readied themselves to go on stage and do a hilariously laconic flight crew skit…