This weekend is...

...the South Essex Armed Forces show.

The event is being held at the Barleylands Showground (the fields next to the craft village car park)...

...and for once, Mother Nature was playing nice and Saturday was a glorious day - warm and sunny.

Perhaps a little too sunny...

I was sitting enjoying the sunshine in the courtyard just outside Pinnacle Crafts when the air display started (there had been a few jets go over earlier but this was the actual 'dog-fight'). The display started with a number of WW1 planes milling around the skies so I grabbed my camera...

...and missed them (nice shot of the sky though). I tried again but it was so difficult trying to focus the camera on the planes because of the angle of the sun...

...click...and you guessed it - another sky shot.
I tried again and despite the planes being close to where the aerial and the background changes from cloud to blue sky, by the time the shutter clicked...

...this is what I got - two little planes disappearing off the bottom left of the photo. I gave up and just enjoyed the spectacle. When the Spitfire started whizzing round the skies I didn't even bother to reach for the camera.

The event covered a huge area so it wasn't easy to get pictures that reflected this.

The Army had quite a large presence...

 ...camouflaged tents, trucks...

 ...more trucks.
This photo shows how the event stretched off into the distance...

...certainly a great 'Family' day out with things to see and funfair rides.
Oh I did manage to get a better plane shot...

...this one was easier as it was sitting on the ground (still not the best angle for the sun - but hey-ho).

There seemed to be a lot of excited kiddies enjoying the event along with a lot of elderly folk who obvious enjoyed the memories that it evoked. Here's hoping that Mother Nature continues to play nice so that the 2nd day of the event goes off just as well.........................................................