Eric Hollies, Cyril Washbrook, Gimblett and Roly Jenkins were to the fore but the event excelled itself during glorious weather in 1944. It spanned seven days; more than 42,000 spectators watched the play, the attendance on Saturday exceeding 10,000 and there was a profit of £2,514. Test and county cricketers graced the teams and there was a stunning finale when the RAF defeated the Festival XI by seven wickets. Reg Simpson made 47 and 71 for the Festival team but an unbeaten hundred from Dennis Brookes in the first innings and superb batting by Wally Hammond and Leslie Todd in the second got the RAF home. “While I was waiting for a posting I played a bit of cricket, including the Birmingham Festival, in 1944 where I scored quite a few runs just before I went to India,” said Simpson. He shared in two opening partnerships of 171 and 146 with Dempster but it was not just about the cricket. Each scorecard contained on the reverse a diagram of the fielding positions, Scorer kept the crowd informed with some comment and humorous observations over the public address system and schoolboys and wounded soldiers were not forgotten. Hammond was also seen at his best in the same period when he thrilled a Worcester crowd of 5,000 with 117 for RAF against the home county. Reg Perks took five for 79 but RAF won by 97 runs, a cheque for £387 being sent to the RAF Benevolent Fund. The war in Europe was over by the time of the 1945 Birmingham Festival and rain fell on five of the seven days. Hammond, Learie Constantine and Bill Edrich were among the leading players. During its four years, the festival attracted 140,000 spectators and raised £10,000 for wartime funds. In his final broadcast Scorer said: “And so my wartime festivals come to an end – for me happy memories of wonderful sportsmen, great cricket and happy crowds bringing money for those who need it. I give you a toast – to Cricket.” Birminghamwas the only city which held an annual festival in wartime, although Jack Appleyard, the Leeds and District League secretary, organised some successful Bank Holiday Festival Weeks at Roundhay Park in Leeds. Several counties arranged matches, usually of one or two days. Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire met at Trent Bridge (where the Notts secretary HA Brown played a notable role in organising wartime cricket) and Ilkeston during the Bank Holidays and Essex became involved in the Four Counties match at Lord’s, initially over the August Bank Holidays of 1941 and 1942. This featured Middlesex and Essex against Kent and Surrey under the captaincy of Gubby Allen and Errol Holmes and in 1941 more than 15,000 attended, the proceeds going to King George’s War Fund for Sailors. Rain ended the game but not before Edrich registered a splendid century. The match became a feature of the Lord’s wartime calendar and the gate rose to 22,000 in 1942, with a century for Holmes and a glimpse of England’s future with Denis Compton, Edrich, Trevor Bailey, Godfrey Evans and Alec Bedser on view. Cardiff Arms Park became a military training centre and St Helen’s was taken over by the ARP although the squares were protected to allow matches to take place. In 1943 two were arranged at Cardiff for the August Bank Holiday period: Glamorgan meeting an Army team and Glamorgan of The Future, the latter including the 17-year-old Gilbert Parkhouse. Matches against a British Empire XI and The Army took place at Cardiff and Newport in the 1944 holidays, when news came of Major Maurice Turnbull’s death at the age of 38 in action in Normandy. In happier circumstances another of the great names of Welsh cricket, Johnnie Clay, took ten wickets in a match against the Royal Australian Air Force at Cardiff over Whitsun in 1945. The stylish Parkhouse provided more Wartime Holidays 128