Money issues cause the beloved 1940s weekend in Woodhall Spa to be cancelled indefinitely.
Since 2012 Woodhall Spa celebrated wartime history with a weekend in July which brought together a whole community of vintage lovers. The event was beloved beyond Lincolnshire and treasured within the Woodhall Spa community.
We spoke with a young 1940s Festival attendee, Alice, who said of the event, “I enjoyed the people as they were very fun to talk, and I adored the cars, which you could see for miles, I loved the soldiers that you could see going into the woods”.
However, on November 4th 2023, the event organisers sent out a statement on Facebook and their website saying, “sadly, operating costs have now simply become too high for us to carry on. As our free event has become more and more popular year-on-year, the costs of keeping so many people safe, secure and well-served with the right infrastructure”. They continued to talk about how costs will probably continue to rise even more over the years.
But how are business going to be affected in the area, local business owner Julie Rouse says that her business was always trading highly during the event and that general tourism increased because of the 1940s weekend.
Now the event is shutdown, businesses could lose a lot of revenue as these events brought customers in. Will the event come back someday, or is it an era that will be forgotten about in a few years?
By Scarlett O, Yr9
Boston High School Newsroom