The first few dates for special events at Crich Tramway Village have now begun to appear on the museum’s official website, with a definite theme of wars apparent in what has been announced so far. The usual two 1940s-themed events have been joined by an expanded Edwardian weekend, which for 2015 will last for a whole week and be largely focussed on the First World War.
With the 50th anniversary of electric tram operation at Crich now behind us, 2015 should be a less exciting year for the enthusiast although hopefully there will still be plenty to tempt us into making a number of trips to Derbyshire next year. Plans for enthusiast-orientated events will presumably be announced later, but for now, some dates for the most popular events aimed at the wider public have already been released. These include the established 1940s events at Easter (5th & 6th April) and August – the latter will be expanded for 2015 to run for a full seven days from 3rd to 10th August inclusive. As already mentioned, a new week-long event taking place from 13th to 19th July will focus on the First World War and this will incorporate several elements from the Edwardian Weekend of past years, such as the operation of ‘the’ horse tram. Presumably this refers to Sheffield 15 and it seems that some people at the museum have forgotten that there are several other horse cars on site, including Leeds 107 which seems to have been somewhat forgotten about since arriving last year.
The only other event confirmed for 2015 thus far is ‘Beside the Seaside’ which will once again be held over a nine day period including the late May Bank Holiday weekend. From 23rd to 31st May the village will again be hosting various seaside attractions including a fun fair, appropriate family entertainment such as Punch & Judy shows and a beach area. Naturally the operational Blackpool trams should feature heavily although once again the first three days will clash with the heritage tram operation in Blackpool.
Although these events may not excite many enthusiasts, it is at least pleasing to see some of the bigger events at Crich being promoted well in advance and hopefully this is an indication that plenty of effort will be put into making them enjoyable and successful. We also look forward to the future announcement of dates for any enthusiast events at the National Tramway Museum so that we can hopefully put them in our diaries nice and early!
Interesting having an Edwardian event with a WW1 theme considering the Edwardian period ended in 1910 and WW1 didn’t start until 1914!
“The Edwardian period is frequently extended beyond Edward’s death in 1910 to include the years up to the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, the start of World War I in 1914, the end of hostilities with Germany in 1918, or the signing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.”
So it fits perfectly.