‘DON’T tell her anything, she might be an intruder,” a uniformed officer warns the two Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes (NAAFI) women I’m talking to.

They all laugh, and although we are all sharing a joke, it is clear to see that at the Pickering Wartime Weekend everyone gets in to character and throws themselves in to the fun.

The clocks were turned back to 1943 to celebrate and remember the people involved in the Second World War. Women donned fur coats and feathered hats, while the men smoked pipes and carried leather briefcases.

Sandbags, replica rifles, air raid shelters and a NAAFI stand lined one side of the platform at Pickering railway station on Friday.

The NAAFI, where Wendy Walker, 69, and Mary Antcliffe, 64, both of Halifax, were helping out, was traditionally used to serve teas to returning soldiers.

Mary, dressed in a fur hat – a favourite during the 1940’s, said: “Working in the NAAFI is great. They used to give the troops tea as they got off the train and maybe a biscuit, if they had any.”

Wendy said: “It’s just a super weekend. We have been coming here every year and there’s some fabulous events going on.”

As I made my way on to the platform, I was met by a Home Guard member dressed in full replica uniform.

“I’ve been coming here for the past 15 years as a corporal,” Peter Whitaker, 62, of Skipton, tells me.

“It is a great event and a great a period to recreate and remember the people in the Second World War, and it’s just nice to be a part of it.”

He talks me through the equipment propped next to the sandbags – a Home Guard helmet with holes in to distinguish it from the soldiers’ helmets and a Second World War bayonet. There’s also a rifle, a gas mask and pouches sitting on top of the dusty sandbags, all adding to the authenticity.

David and Marie Beech, of Hull, are drinking from a flask of tea and, although they’ve been coming to the war weekend most years, they have a slightly different story to tell.

“My father was a prisoner of war in Poland for five years. His only wish was to make it home to my mother, Alice,” Marie, 67, tells me.

“He spoke about it often and how he wasn’t treated very well, but he had some great stories.

“That was his only wish, to make it home to my mother and he did, they went on to have eight kids,” she tells me, smiling.

“People take it very seriously and get really involved with their outfits as well, it’s great.”

Her husband, David, 70, has certainly taken his outfit seriously, donning a 1940’s hand-stitched wool suit.

“It’s so heavy that when you put it on the coat hanger the coat hanger droops,” he tells me laughing.

“I’ve got ink fountain pens in my top pocket too, and this hat was three euros from Spain.”

“You’ve always got to be looking for items,” Marie said.

Visitors were not short of items to pick up either thanks to the Seal Military and Foxy Forties hats on sale in the town’s memorial hall.

So, I leave Mr and Mrs Beech to enjoy their cup of tea, waiting for the train and admiring the different outfits, excited for the weekend events.