Tank Bank Day
What a day we had on Saturday 9 June when Frank the Tank rolled into Doncaster! Our Doncaster 1914-18 team put together an amazing, action-packed day to recreate the momentous occasion of Doncaster Tank Bank Week which took place in the Borough in 1918.
Our recreation brought hundreds of people to Doncaster Market Place to get a glimpse of Frank, take part in fun activities and enjoy musical performances and historical re-enactments.
History’s Maid joined us to tell us how she did her bit to raise funds for the war effort and keep the nation’s spirits up
Patricia Hammond and Matt Redman performed songs of the Great War and we got to experience living history with the Manchester Regiment who shared stories of First World War soldiers and brought real-life and replica wartime objects for handling.
The event was a recreation of Doncaster’s original Tank Bank event held in April 1918 when battle-scarred Egbert the tank visited Doncaster to rally support and raise funds for the war effort.
Mayor Carr climbed on top of Egbert to declare Tank Bank Week officially open in the centre of the Market Place. Thousands of people turned out to view Egbert and purchase war bonds and war savings certificates, raising a total of £410,000 over the course of the week.
We were joined by some special guests to recreate photographs taken during Tank Bank Week in 1918
Our modern-day Tank Bank event was organised by the Doncaster 1914-18 team to raise funds for their ‘From Donny with Love‘ project.
The initiative aims to commemorate the contribution that Doncaster made to the war effort during the First World War, by recreating wartime Christmas comfort packs.
A number of veterans also joined us to recreate photos from 1918
The team will send out gifts to 300 soldiers currently serving with the Rifles Regiment in time for Christmas 2018. The Rifles are the successors to the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry who have had a long association with Doncaster, and were a key local regiment during the First World War.
If you want to show your support for soldiers who are serving in the military today, and for those who served in the past, please donate to the comfort packs project via JustGiving.