• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content

D-Day RevisitedD-Day Revisited

  • The Charity
    • What We Do
    • Ongoing Projects
    • News & Events
    • Donate Today
    • Forum
    • Contact Us
  • D-Day History
    • Planning & Preparation
    • D-Day Landings
    • The Normandy Campaign
    • Veterans’ Stories
  • LIBOR Funding
  • D-Day 75 Garden
01244 531 765
info@d-dayrevisited.co.uk
2015 – Goodwood Revival

2015 – Goodwood Revival

Home > News & Events > 2015 – Goodwood Revival

Having had such a fun and memorable day at the 2014 Goodwood Revival a year earlier, we were thrilled to be invited to bring 21 Normandy veterans back to the Revival in September 2015!

In this year’s group were: Arthur Palmer, John Dennett, Francis Diffell, Gordon Drabble, Charlie Barnes, Patrick Churchill, Bill Ridgway, John Shanahan, Don Reynolds, Lance Rooke, Tony Huntbach, Bob Laverty, Glen Jones, Neville Foote, Richard Llewellyn, Ron Minton, Richard Hughes, Bernard Morgan, Bill Pendell, Joe Cattini and Alf Bradshaw.

At 10am on Saturday 12th September we set off for Southampton Eastleigh where we stayed overnight at a very comfortable Premier Inn. We arrived at the Goodwood site bright and early the following morning, ready to kickstart the visit with a short trip on a charming vintage routemaster bus! The weather was overcast but dry and everyone was looking forward to the day ahead.

D-Day Veterans at Goodwood Revival 2015
Normandy veterans enjoy a nostalgic bus ride on to the Goodwood Revival site

The whole group tucked into a delicious breakfast at the Pilot’s Club in the Freddie March Aviation area. It wasn’t long before the Candy Girls paid a visit to their old friends and sang a few familiar wartime numbers in their honour!

D-Day Veterans at Goodwood
Royal Scots Fusilier veterans Neville Foote & Bob Laverty looking dapper at Goodwood Revival with their girls

D-Day Veterans and Candy Girls at Goodwood Revival
Normandy veterans Bill Pendell MM, Joe Cattini & Bernard Morgan pose for a photograph with the Candy Girls

The veterans and their companions had a couple of hours to explore the event at their leisure before their ‘moment’ on the race track. Some visited the Veuve Cliquot tent to partake in a spot of jive which was fantastic… we were very impressed by their skills!

WW2 veteran jiving at Goodwood Revival
Veteran Bob Laverty “teaching the youngsters” how to jive!

Similarly to the previous year the veterans were invited to hop on board their own WWII Jeep and be chauffeur-driven to the area of race track in front of the main grandstand where Lord March addressed the crowds. The ladies were all accompanied into the pit area so they could have front row seats of the spectacle!

Normandy veterans Goodwood Revival
All aboard a cavalcade of WWII Jeeps to be chauffeur-driven to Goodwood’s famous race track

Girls at Goodwood Revival
Here come the girls!

2015 marked the 75th anniversary of the Battle of Britain and so the guest of honour on the track was Spitfire Pilot Tom Neil, who led the parade in a Humber Staff Car followed by a full marching band and a group of RAF Cadets bearing Union Flag standards.

WW2 Veteran Goodwood Revival
Battle of Britain veteran Tom Neil at Goodwood Revival

Following closely behind were our Normandy veterans beaming and waving at the applauding crowds on either side of the track. Just as Lord March finished his speech a cluster of iconic WWII planes from the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flew by overhead.

D-Day Veterans on Goodwood racetrack
D-Day veterans John Shanahan, Tony Huntbach & Patrick Churchill in race track cavalcade at Goodwood Revival

Lord March addresses WW2 veterans Goodwood Revival
D-Day veterans John Shanahan, Tony Huntbach & Patrick Churchill in race track cavalcade at Goodwood Revival

Once all the excitement of their ‘moment’ on the race track was over, everyone returned to the Pilot’s Club for a generous afternoon tea! The sun came out towards the end of the day and we managed to grab this picture of all the gang together just before we all headed back to our coach.

D-Day Revisited Goodwood Revival 2015
The gang at the end of a happy day at Goodwood

Once again everyone thoroughly enjoyed their day at the Revival! We returned to our Southampton hotel for a relaxed evening, before making the journey home after breakfast the following morning.

Category: Events
Share:
Join the Conversation

Other Posts

2020 – VE-Day Message from our Chairman

2020 – VE-Day Message from our Chairman

On the 75th anniversary of ‘Victory in Europe’ Day our Chairman John Phipps has put pen to paper, remembering some of the veterans we have had the privilege to meet…

Read more »

2019 – America Revisited

2019 – America Revisited

On the 23rd of June Royal Navy D-Day veteran John Dennett, his great-nephew Tony and D-Day Revisited Secretary Victoria Phipps boarded the Queen Mary 2 at Southampton and began their…

Read more »

2019 – Royal Navy D-Day veteran to revisit America after 77 years

2019 – Royal Navy D-Day veteran to revisit America after 77 years

Having recently attended the 75th anniversary commemorations in Normandy on June 6th, British D-Day veteran John Dennett is now further marking this milestone with a transatlantic voyage to New York…

Read more »

2019 – Joe Cattini remembers D-Day

2019 – Joe Cattini remembers D-Day

Gold Beach veteran Joe Cattini casts his mind back 75 years to recall his experience of the D-Day Landings on 6th June 1944.  During the RHS Chelsea Flower Show…

Read more »

Projects

D-Day 75 Garden
MASB 27 Restoration

Get Involved

Join the Conversation
News & Events
D-Day Revisited
D-Day Revisited

Registered Charity Number: 1129753

The Armoury Building, Hawarden Aviation Park,
Flint Road, Chester CH4 0GZ
Copyright

Written content copyright © John Phipps 2012 All modern day photographs © Victoria Phipps unless specified otherwise.