Lincoln Tank Weekend DVD

The first tank men and women remembered. Visitors from all over the country, including a contingent from the Royal Tank Regiment, gathered on a roundabout close to where William Foster and Co once stood to unveil a £100,000 memorial to the Tank pioneers.

Much can be learned about the early tanks from this film of the unveiling ceremony and the interviews later. The three-year campaign of the Lincoln Tank Memorial Group to mark the Centenary of the world’s first fighting tank - invented in Lincoln in 1915 – culminated in this poignant ceremony in the sunshine.

This DVD – total duration 87 minutes - includes all the highlights, for instance the Spitfire flypast, the Town Crier’s tribute, and the piper’s lament before four relatives of families who were originally involved cut the ribbon.

Two nights earlier the Lincolnshire Seafarers Committee, recognising the Admiralty’s original involvement, held a Commemorative Dinner at the White Hart Hotel, Lincoln. It was at the White Hart in 1915 that William Tritton, MD of Fosters, Walter Wilson from the Admiralty’s Landships Committee, and Fosters draughtsman William Rigby, worked night after night to invent the first armoured tracked vehicle, Little Willie.

Blow by Blow filmed both events, including important speeches and interviews, and this extended coverage will be welcomed by everyone interested in the story of the tank.

A separate item shows how Rilmac and Co made the memorial tank one and a half times lifesize in Cor-ten steel, and its associated figures, including Tritton, Wilson and Rigby, in carbon steel. A timelapse film shows the tank being built in four minutes!

For details of Andrew Blow and Richard Pullen's Tank Tour Talk and Film Show see facebook.com/birthofthetanks