Appeal for more sponsors for Melton's spectacular 1940s' event

Two attendees in RAF uniform at last year's 1940s Melton Mowbray event

It costs £24,000 to put on the two-day celebration of wartime nostalgia in the town centre and parks, which last year was attended by more than 20,000 people.

It is a fabulous event for the town which boosts the local economy with hotels already booked up and local shops, pubs, cafes and restaurants set to get lots of business on the Saturday and Sunday, May 11 and 12.

This year’s celebration commemorates the 80th anniversary of D-Day, the Allied invasion of the French beaches of Normandy, which proved pivotal in the outcome of the Second World War.

People in period clothes at the 1940s Melton Mowbray event in 2023

There will be over 30 vintage traders, a vintage craft and artisan fair, children’s games, donkey rides and a vintage funfair.

Other 1940s favourites will include singers Johnny Victory, Miss Lily Lovejoy and ‘Jeep’ Johnson, military groups, displays, vintage vehicles and period re-enactors.

Plenty of family fun is scheduled with Melton's Most marvellous, ‘Find Hitler’ treasure hunt for kids and lots of fun and games.

On the Sunday, a large parade will march through the town, culminating in the park with a moving ‘drum head’ service and a minute’s silence.

A wartime Jeep with GI and Land Girl at last year's 1940s Melton Mowbray event

Melton’s event is free to attend unlike many other similar 1940s events in the UK.

Lisa Taylor-Ward, from the organising committee, said: “Like with everything, we have had cuts in our normal funding and are having to reach out to local businesses to ask for sponsorship.

“We have had a fabulous response – there are some amazing people in Melton, but we are still short.

“We are desperate for more sponsors. It doesn't matter how much they can contribute as we are greatly appreciative of anything we receive.”

A couple in wartime clothing at the 1940s Melton Mowbray event

All sponsors get an advertisement of their logos on the event’s social media pages, its website and the weekend's programme.

Sponsors so far: Sign Right Creative, Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe, Pearces Jewellers, Snowden Homes, Melton Bid, The Melton Building Society, Esquires Coffee, Melton Borough Council, Melton Mowbray Town Estate.

Email [email protected] if you would like to sponsor the Melton event or call 07837 398610.