VISITORS to Bury and Ramsbottom over the Bank Holiday could be forgiven for thinking they had stepped back to wartime Britain!

With the approach of the D-Day anniversary, the sixth annual wartime weekend organised by the East Lancashire Railway took on extra poignancy.

Neil Parkington, event co-ordinator said: "I have always said that the aim of this event to keep alive the memory and history of those who fell for king and country.

"As well as being fun, it is a very important event, and more so this year with the build up to the D-Day anniversary."

Thousands of people flocked to both the East Lancashire Railway stations in Ramsbottom and Bury, with many of them dressed in 1940s fashion.

Members of the Friends of the 1940s Movement dressed in authentic clothing to capture the spirit of the Second World War.

Visitors witnessed a mock battle, complete with sirens and sound of gunfire, as members of the 82nd Airbourne Company fought it out on the tracks at Ramsbottom station.

Away from the fighting, romance blossomed thanks to the World War Two Historical Society.

Wartime "couple" Ian Foster and Lorna Spurin were "married" in the remembrance garden of St Paul's Church, Ramsbottom, by minister Robert Airy, of Rossendale.

The bride laid a wreath at the church's war memorial before the couple were driven away in a Jeep to a tea dance reception at Ramsbottom Civic Hall.

The 1940s weekend culminated in a parade made up of the British Legion, veterans associations, the re-enactment society and RAF cadets from Bury and Rochdale.

Mr Parkington said: "This event has just grown and this was the biggest yet. The remembrance gardens were full of people watching the wedding, which was simply incredible.

"It is impossible to say how many came: all I can say is that the streets and car parks were full.

"So many people came dressed in costumes of the day:-- with many more asking where they could get the costumes from!"

Mr Parkington concluded: "The culmination of the three-day event was the parade and ceremony which we hope to make bigger next year.

"I am already planning next year's wartime event."