Lytham 1940s Weekend

30/03/2026

With 137 days to go until we meet again on Lytham Green, here ‘s an update for you all in terms of preparations for our fifteenth Lytham 1940s Weekend which takes place in the middle of August.
The web page has been updated with the very latest information, so for more detailed information, please visit that.

Please note we are constantly updating this information, adding in more things, so the web page is very much a moving feast.

Marquees are booked, the entertainment line-up is coming together well, re-enactment groups and stalls coming together nicely, trade stalls and catering stalls booked in, fairground booked in, military charities booked in. We’ve not got to the toilets, bins, fencing and traffic plans yet, but they are looming! We are now full for traders and cannot accept any more – as always, we are inundated way beyond availability and we will put any further enquiries onto the standby list and should somebody pull out, we will review what capacity we have. Sometimes we do get last minute availabilities.

Our plan is to have dancing again in Clifton Square and also on the Mussel Tanks. We are also planning something else for Clifton Square but can’t reveal that yet.

The Kalamazoo Dance Band (Sat 15 Aug) – over 100 tickets are sold so far (ticket link on the web page). The Friday night will be announced soon. We have are aware of other evening events taking place around the area – the ones we are dealing with take place on Lytham Green. In addition to the Lowther Dance just across at the Lowther Pavilion , they have also put on a new matinee and evening show.

Military and civilian vehicle parades are planned for both days – timings to be confirmed.

Once again car parking will be made available on Lytham Green at £10 per car per day – every single penny of this goes back into the event to support what we put on. There is an advance online ticket at £7.50 per car per day available again – see webpage for more details. Whilst you can of course park in the town centre, it does get very congested, as do the side roads and being mindful of local accesses, we would very much prefer that you park on the Green – that income really does make a difference as to what we put on! For example, all the car park income once we've had to pay 20% VAT on it pays for all the entertainment and the first aid team.

Our next team meeting is after Easter, at which point we’ll be able to provide more updates. In the meantime, have a read through the web page for updates. Away from the Lytham 1940s Weekend, we do work on many other events, so have to juggle our time between multiple commitments, plus those away from events including supporting this summer’s AIG Women’s Open Golf event at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, so please do bear with us. More updates will be made and post Easter we’ll start to update Facebook on a regular basis.

More information - www.discoverfylde.co.uk/lytham1940s-weekend/

In the meantime, thanks very much for your support and have a Happy Easter!

14/11/2025

We are delighted to welcome back the Kalamazoo Dance Band to Lytham for their sixth appearance in 2026. They'll play in the main event marquee on Lytham Green on the evening of Saturday 15th August, with tickets now available to purchase via the link below.

We know you'll be in for a great night in the marquee and fully expect this to be a sell out once again. See ticket link - https://www.discoverfylde.co.uk/events/kalamazoo-dance-band-lytham/ (note - we don't issue and post out physical tickets but coordinate things as we approach the event and get in touch with all who have booked).

Please note we will start in earnest on all other aspects of the 2026 event from January, as we have plenty of other work away from the 1940s event, but following requests for the Kalamazoo Dance Band evening, we wanted to get this part of the event out there this side of Christmas.

Thanks

Join the Kalamazoo Dance Band for a great evening of music in the forties marquee on Lytham Green on the

04/11/2025

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them

From the Poem - For the Fallen; by Robert Laurence Binyon (1869 to 1943). The poem was written in mid September 1914, a few weeks after the outbreak of the First World War.

Photo from the Lytham 1940s Weekend 2018

26/08/2025

Thank you to all the businesses in Lytham who joined in during the 1940s Weekend with decorated shop fronts and staff in period outfits too. It really adds to the weekend and was fantastic to see.

Judged by the Mayor of Fylde, Cllr Frank Andrews and our 'Winston Churchill (aka Derek Herbert), a competition took place to judge the best businesses in town on Saturday morning. Their choice was as follows:

Winner - Bond and Bloom

Runners up:
Snailwells
Stella and Star
Brian House Hospice
Luigi's
North West Air Ambulance.

Thanks to all those businesses across town who got involved and supported the event. Thanks too for the sponsors of these prizes - Stringers Lytham, Lytham Hall, The Spa Hotel, St Annes Beach Huts, The Cartford Inn. It is much appreciated.

A selection of photos from their journey around the centre of Lytham is here.

20/08/2025

A BIG thank you to everyone who visited at the weekend, who worked on it before / during / after, who performed, who traded or had an exhibition stand, charity stand, who took part in the various scheduled activities such as the parades, the battle or canon firing.

It was a very hot weekend and the team were kept extremely busy behind the scenes with a number of issues but handled these extremely professionally and we're delighted to watch the wonderful feedback come in. Thank you.

We will continue to learn and where we can improve, we will do so (we have some areas to reflect on to continually improve) and we will look to implement a few improvements for next year.

Here's some images from Andy Bell (colour) and our own Jack Todd (black and white).

See you next year on August 15th and 16th and thanks again for the support which is much appreciated.

20/08/2025

LOST PROPERTY

We have some lost property from the weekend, so if you lost anything over the weekend in Lytham, please get in touch with us via 01253 658443 or [email protected] and perhaps we can reunite you and your missing property. Thanks

12/08/2025

Join the Royal British Legion on The Green at Lytham Windmill on Friday 15th August 2025 at 7:00PM to Commemorate the 80th Anniversary of VJ Day. They will be joined by relatives of the Blackpool Regiment who fought in the Far East and were members of our own Fylde Rugby Club. Help them Celebrate the true end of WW2 and Commemorate those that gave everything. We Will Remember Them

11/08/2025

Getting to Lytham 1940s Weekend – Aug 16th and 17th

We look forward to seeing you this weekend for what we hope will be another great event. At this point it looks like the weather may prove kind to us, so do keep covered up and hydrated. We will have drinks stalls, ice cream and more at the event. There are several ways to get to the event as follows:

Bus – Lytham is on the Blackpool Transport network (bus route 11) with buses stopping regularly in the town centre in Clifton Street, just a short walk to Lytham Green.

Coach – drop off point signposted to Lytham train station and then a 5-minute walk to the town centre and Lytham Green. We do not have the capacity for coach parking on Lytham Green given the ground conditions, but coaches can park in the surrounding area such as near Fairhaven Lake and Gardens which is a 5 minute drive away. Coach drivers can pop to the Adventure Golf kiosk for some refreshments. Or park at the designated coach park at Fairhaven Rd Car Park in St Annes.

Train – Lytham is the nearest train station and can be found on the South Fylde line which goes between Preston and Blackpool South.

Car – there are many pay and display car parks in town and just a short walk to the event, including two car parks right at the event - Bath Street and Dicconson Terrace. In addition, there will be plenty of car parking available on Lytham Green at the event at £10 per car per day CASH (all monies going back into supporting the significant costs of putting on the event). Blue badge holders free.

Road closures – please note there are no road closures planned for this event and no diversions in place. It will be busy, especially around the 1pm point of the military vehicle parade, but this will be for the period of the parade doing two laps of the town. The zebra crossing at Dicconson Terrace will be marshalled 11am to 5pm each day.

We look forward to welcoming you.

04/08/2025

We look forward to welcoming Johnny Victory back to Lytham very shortly.

He'll be performing both days in the main marquee with some great songs.

04/08/2025

Here's the timings for this year in Lytham for August 16th and 17th.There will additionally be a VJ Day 80th service on Friday 15th - we will post details once all firmed up.

Thanks to all the sponsors for supporting this event including Cotton Traders, Stringers Lytham, all those who have offered up prizes for the best dressed shop and cafe competition, and to CoSign Blackpool for the BSL services in the main marquee.

(Please note there may inadvertently be an earlier version of this artwork out there, but this is the final version).

Thanks

30/07/2025

Please note we're just waiting for one final element of the event to be confirmed (hopefully in the next 24 hours) and then we're in a position to release the weekend's timed schedule with all the entertainers slots, vehicle ride outs and more.

Once all confirmed we will email all traders and re enactment groups involved in the event with their joining information pack.

Those who have booked for the sold out Kalamazoo evening will be contacted shortly with arrangements.

Plus, we've just announced the Friday night event on here to support the NHS Blue Skies Charity - an extremely worthy local cause and do come along to support them if you can (donations on the door). Last year had 300 in the marquee so we're sure it will be another great night.

We'd also like to thank all those colleagues who support us to develop and deliver this event behind the scenes - security, first aid, the many colleagues and elected members at Fylde Council, sound and light, re enactment groups of all shapes and sizes and so many more who work together as a great team to make sure things go as smoothly as possible.

Plus, of course those businesses who have kindly offered support through some form of sponsorship or prizes - Cotton Traders, Stringers Lytham, St Annes Beach Huts, Lytham Hall, The Cartford Inn, The Spa Hotel, CoSign Blackpool, Fairhaven Lake and Gardens and more...

Thanks for the support.