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Tag Archives: ww2 event

Purple Eyebrows at Bletchley Park

Purple Eyebrows at Bletchley Park

Things have gone a bit pear shaped recently. This week for instance; I had been desperately getting a steampunk outfit ready for next weekend. As they were planning a 1000 Leagues Under the Sea Dance, I thought I would create mermaid-y hair and tried a temporary purple with green hair wax. The same evening I got a message stating that the event had been cancelled and I was devastated. So much so that I didn’t wash out the colour. The next day I was playing badminton with some chums, so had a shower and…it wouldn’t wash out. Well, the green came off my hair, but stayed on my scalp and the purple had actually turned dark blue, that had now gone blue and grey.

Betsy getting her ID card stamped

I got some extra strength colour stripper for my hair and some of my favourite orangey-red hair dye, ready to go back to my normal vivacious tangerine! Sooooooo, the hair stripper didn’t work particularly well and neither did the hair colourant.

Kitten Von Mew entertaining one of the stallholders!

Skip forward to today and there I was, going to Bletchley Park, with grey-blue, browny-orange hair that I tried desperately to camouflage in victory rolls and a hat. This was bad enough, but I also had a wardrobe malfunction before leaving. I had wanted to wear my original 1940’s green suit and the metal zipper broke when I was doing the skirt up. So I quickly put on a dress that was too big (but didn’t need ironing) and some 40’s style platform shoes…nope, the platform soles decided that now was a great time to disintegrate. I swapped to my Miss L Fire’s and we hot-stepped it out of the door.

Alan Turing’s Office

Cut to the car journey, where I was FaceTiming the folks and I caught a glimpse of myself in the sun visor mirror.

“Why the hell didn’t anyone tell me I had purple eyebrows?!”

Children’s ‘Mickey Mouse’ Gas mask. they were blue and red with a nose flap that made a silly noise when you breathed out.
Hurricane flypast

I was in such a panic to get ready and makeup on that I hadn’t been paying attention to the brush I used to apply the brown tint to my brows. It has obviously been used for pink or red lipstick beforehand and I hadn’t realised.

Cut back to the car journey and scrubbing with a wet wipe only seemed to create a brighter purple and a lilac haze on the skin around my brows.

Karen, The Heritage Milliner and Shona of Heyday Vintage!

So I went to the Bletchley Park 1940’s Weekend with bluey-grey, orangey-brown hair and purple eyebrows in an oversized dress and still had a wonderful time. Sometimes you just need to suck up the stress, see the funny side and enjoy each splendid, silly, memorable moment.

And hey, I can always desaturate the photos!

Ironbridge 1940’s Day at The Boat Inn


We are just in the car, heading back from a wonderful day in picturesque Ironbridge.

The 1940’s Day was hosted by the team behind the annual WW2 Weekend and was another great way to raise money for COMBAT STRESS.

There were vintage military vehicles, information stands, reenactors with American, British, German and French Resistance setups and myself and Ava Evergreen entertaining!

I have, as yet, not been able to sing at the full weekend event because of other bookings, but it was a wonderful little setup and certainly attracted a good amount of people.

Just a 5 minute walk away was an amazing craft centre (squeal!!!!!) that I didn’t have time to explore, but the coffee shop did a lovely breakfast to fuel our day and prepare me for my first set.

The Naval Officer’s car (or command car?) was certainly my favourite there and I could have quite happily trundled home in that beauty!

Everyone had very good, informative dioramas and we chatted to the French Resistance people for quite a while. Each group were very approachable and eager to answer question or show you interesting artifacts.

The chap smiling above was amazingly knowledgeable about British kit and we had a great chat about hand grenades. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t know anything about the Bakelite ones. Now, my reenactor friends will be rolling their eyes at me right now, but I’ve only ever seen the pineapples and the sticks. I may have just not realised until now what they were!

The idea was to unscrew the cap, throw the grenade and then a cotton tape would unwind. The weight of the lead tab at the end pulled out the pin to detonate the grenade.

So I hope you’ve enjoyed this little post. Thank you to everyone who came, Dave Adams for booking me and Rosie and everyone at COMBAT STRESS. I hope you raised lovely amount of money!

The dress I was wearing today is by Heyday Online and is a BRAND NEW Mary dress, with long sleeves! I’m wearing a size 14, with a corset underneath to accentuate my curves. Because of the cut, it frames my cinched waist as well as fitting beautifully at my natural waist size too!

Step Back to the 1940’s

Step Back to the 1940’s

You may have started to see The Severn Valley Railway’s new promo videos popping up on TikTok and Instagram recently.

I had super fun being part of these hammy shorts and it was wonderful being at the beautiful Kidderminster Station once more!

I cannot wait to sing to you all at The Engine Shed at Highley for Step Back to the 1940’s this summer, so keep your eyes peeled for more little videos popping up throughout May and June!

You can see the first two promotional videos for SVR’s WW2 event HERE and HERE!

Corsage and hair flower made by Kitten Von Mew. Dress by Micheline Pitt.

The underpinnings! 1950’s open bottom girdle and vintage fully fashion stockings.

Bletchley Park Vintage Weekend – Sunday


How lucky were we with the weather?! Even when we arrived, my weather app said it was 65% chance of thunderstorms and showers from 2pm. Bletchley Park Vintage Weekend stayed hot and humid until we left!

Today we were all wearing vintage. Richard was in is WWII American Navy gear, I was in an original 40’s crepe dress with studded detailing and betsy was in an adorable vintage dress with chickens embroidered around the bottom!

We headed once more to the vintage tent to have a look at the stalls (sunglasses were a must-have purchase as I was not prepared for the sunshine at all!) and then on to the mansion restaurant to order lunch and sit in the sunshine, whilst Betsy made the most of the play equipment. Got to say that the ribs were scrumptious, but at events like this, it does get VERY busy with a long queue at lunchtime.

We need to do the whole weekend next year so that we have time for a tour around the huts too. It’s a bit tricky with a 2.5 year old that just wants to run around, ride on the back of swans and talk to everyone who will listen (how she went to the toilet, what colour her toenails are, various songs from her extensive repertoire…”and on that farm he had some shoes ee-i–ee-i-oh, with clip clop here and a clip clop there…”).

We did manage to watch the lindy hoppers in the main marquee, who were lovely.

There was then a short dance tutorial, where Betsy went around offering the dancers gummy bears as sustenance.

My singing set went really well, albeit performing in a sauna! Lovely audience yet again and even some dancers braved the heat. It was amazing to glance over at the swans and lake, people dressed beautifully in their vintage fashions and bask in the incredible history of Bletchley.

Kitten Von Mew Singing < click the link for a video!

Thank you to all those who came and showed support, it really does mean the world to me.

Wow. I’ve just performed at Bletchley Park!!!

Bletchley Park Springtime 1940’s Weekend – Saturday


Well we arrived at midday and although we had driven through fog and rain, the day stayed beautifully clear and warm. I even had to take my thermal vest off!

As I had a while until my performance, we went to check out the entertainment marquee (situated by the beautiful lake and a very handy traditional sweets stall) and then went to peruse the vintage stalls. Well, the choice was so much better than previous years! Bletchley upped their game and are thinking of having even more next year.

Some great custom and vintage hats, some really super menswear (tons of waistcoats!) and rails of clothing, tables jewellery and sunglasses.

I had to stop at Debbie’s Vintage World as she always has some really wonder pieces from America. It’s been a while since I treated myself, but came away with a gorgeous mustard coloured, wide brimmed hat (40’s/50’s) and this jolly little fellow! Seems to be lucite and celluloid from the 50’s.

Considering yesterday was the first day I have felt vaguely human since my tonsillitis, sinus and chest infections, today was a big test for the old vocal chords! I was due to sing 2 x 30 minute sets, but ended up doing a full hour. I really enjoyed myself and put up a live feed on Facebook for people to watch. Unfortunately, 10 minutes towards the end someone sat on the chair containing my phone…even though they saw it there and still sat down…so you can hear but not see me!

Betsy very much enjoyed all the attention she received in her vintage seersucker dress and droptoe pram. Richard wore an original American WWII Civil Air Patrol uniform and I went with some lavender Heyday trousers and a cotton blouse. I did have a 40’s oriental jacket over the top, but it got way too hot.

Tomorrow is meant to be warm with a threat of thunder, but I can’t wait to go back!

Battles For Victory this Weekend!


I cannot wait to perform at this event! I will be doing a burlesque dance at the Saturday evening Dance to Victory and then a singing set on Sunday at the main event. Viv the Spiv, Swingtime Sweethearts and many more well known entertainers will be there!

Kent Online and War & Peace Revival Schedule


I came across this lovely article on ‘tinterweb’ tonight so thought I would share! I also wanted to let you know my performance schedule for the War and Peace Revival Show. This is liable to change, but should give you some sort of timings to aim for. There will always be someone on hand to ask in the Victory Marquee!

Victory Marquee

Wednesday – Adult evening performance, time TBA

Thursday – 2 daytime performances (Family Friendly)

Friday – Family friendly daytime performance and an adult evening performance (Time TBA)

Saturday – 1 daytime performance and 1 evening performance (as part of a “floorshow” cabaret with the John Miller Orchestra) – both Family Friendly. Around 3pm and 8.45pm

Sunday – Daytime family friendly performance, around 3pm

 

Jazz Club

Thursday – Live singing slot and burlesque performance from 11pm (time TBA)

Friday – Live singing slot from 11pm (time TBA)

 

I will also be doing picture and Military World Magazine signings, so make sure you collar me when you get the chance, because this will be one busy kitty!

 

See you all there!