- For the first time ever, spectators will be invited onto the track to help recreate the famous scenes from The Mall on 8 May 1945
- A fleet of period vehicles will take part in a ‘Victory Lap’ around the Goodwood Motor Circuit
- Gate 2 will host a weekend-long street party with Union Flags and bunting aplenty
- Goodwood Revival 11-13 September 2020. For tickets and packages visit Goodwood.com/revival
In 2020, the Goodwood Revival will invite spectators to take part in an on-track recreation of a momentous and moving moment in British history; the announcement at 3pm on 8 May, 1945, that the war in Europe had come to an end.
The Goodwood Motor Circuit is taking as its inspiration the jubilant scenes which took place on The Mall in London immediately following Churchill’s radio announcement. Jubilant Londoners thronged the streets around Buckingham Palace, waving home-made Union flags while around the country bunting strewn street parties celebrated the end of nearly six dark years of war.
The Goodwood Revival will be celebrating and paying tribute to the spirit of the people swept up in that momentous occasion by inviting all spectators in appropriate period dress on to the grid on Sunday lunchtime for a special moment. Expect lots of flag waving and perhaps even a wartime singalong.
Assembled on the grid will be a fleet of private, commercial and military vehicles from the period, including buses, delivery vans, milk floats, flat-bed lorries and even bicycles, ready and waiting to do a ‘Victory Lap’ of the Goodwood Motor Circuit.
Throughout the rest of the weekend the Revival will be capturing the excitement and promise of those heady days in May 1945 with a weekend-long British street party held at the Gate 2 gravel car park. Long tables, bunting, old newspaper recreations and period vehicles will recreate the bygone era. Live music and old gramophone records will provide the soundtrack for a celebratory swing dance, with backing from the roar of mighty Rolls-Royce Merlin engines overhead in Goodwood’s resident Spitfires.
The Revival is rightly famous for the way in which attendees get into the spirit of the weekend and a new Goodwood guide will help people pull off the utility, uniform or demob looks of the time. Civilian styles of the time were heavily influenced by events, with women wearing simple, much-mended floral dresses or the dungarees and head scarves of the Land Girls. Uniformed women were an obvious presence through the incredible work of the various Auxiliary branches of the armed forces. When not in uniform, men’s clothes had a strong military influence, with trench coats and famously ill-fitting demob suits being the most obvious.
The Duke of Richmond commented: “This year, we will rightly be celebrating people rather than vehicles on Sunday afternoon as we reflect on one of the most important days in modern European history. The lessons of those years of resilience, self-sufficiency and make do and mend spirit are still very relevant as Goodwood enters a new, more sustainable era.”
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Notes to Editors
About Goodwood Revival 11-13 September 2020
Recreating the glamour of motor racing as it used to be, the Motor Circuit comes alive for the Revival, both on and off the historic track. The only historic race meeting to be staged entirely in period dress, the Revival sees a return to the halcyon days of Goodwood as the spiritual home of British motor racing. It’s a celebration of bygone days, vintage fashion and wheel-to-wheel racing around this classic circuit, which remains unchanged since its heyday.
Goodwood Motor Circuit, Chichester, West Sussex, United Kingdom, PO18 0PH
For tickets and packages visit the only official ticket sales site: Goodwood.com/revival
Applications for media accreditation to all Goodwood events should be submitted at: https://www.goodwood.com/media-centre/accreditations/
Imagery and news from Goodwood are available at: https://www.goodwood.com/media-centre/
For Revival media enquiries and accreditation support please contact:
Isabel Metcalfe, PR Executive: Email Isabel.metcalfe@goodwood.com Mobile 07584 349367
For lifestyle media enquiries please contact:
Victoria Macmillan-Bell, Lifestyle PR: Email Victoria.MacmillanBell@goodwood.com
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