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Temple at War


11th May 2024

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The Temple at War event is an annual extravaganza of all things military, focussing on WW1 and WW2. It was held at Cressing Temple Barns, Braintree, and I went along on a very hot and sunny Saturday when there was a fly over by a Spitfire. It flew fast and low over the arena site several times but I didn't have a long enough lens with me to do this justice. Still, you should be able to make out the propellor at the front.





The reenactors here have researched the characters they are playing and prepared their uniforms and props to be era-specific. When I first took a photo of the gentleman here, he was wearing modern-day glasses. So he gestured to me to take another photo after he had removed his glasses. He was a map maker in the first Zulu campaign and was keen to explain his line of work. Talking to the participants was the highlight of the day as they all seemed to enjoy the process and photography was welcomed.
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Here we have a press camera-woman from the American army. She is a photographer in real life and was originally attracted by the hardware and later learnt of female war photographers. Afraid I forget the name of her character but she had gone to some length to make sure her costume and accessories were appropriate for the period.


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Since my intention of coming her today was to take some portraits, here are a few more….

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These WW1 soldiers recreated a competition normally seen at the Royal Tournament where teams have to disassemble a gun, transport it through an obstacle course, reassemble the gun, then repeat all that again to return to their starting position. It was quite a close race with the MC stirring up excitement amongst the audience.



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The next activity we watched was a battle between German forces and the Allied forces. It was very noisy with guns firing and mis-firing and vehicles having trouble starting! I guess this was quite a realistic interpretation of the real thing? It was little confusing for the viewers as there was no commentary, but I guess that confusion was realistic too!
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There was something for all the family here and it is a great way to learn some military history. Besides, they had a stall selling the most delicious ice cream making it a brilliant day out!


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