If you once owned a ration book, then the 1940s Weekend in Haworth is the perfect place to visit next weekend.

Even if you have only ever learned about the Second World War in a history lesson at school, this is a fascinating chance to see how our parents and grandparents lived and worked in those turbulent times.

For just one weekend, Haworth lets us experience the Home Front in Britain in the 1940s.

Air raid sirens herald the distant sound of enemy aircraft, and food, clothing and provisions are rationed.

During this time there were more military vehicles on the road than civilian, and the sound of soldiers marching off to war was replaced by the slightly quieter footsteps of the Home Guard as they patrolled the streets. And if you listened carefully, you might hear Vera Lynn singing We’ll Meet Again from behind blackout curtains.

If you have never lived through a time like this, then it may be hard to believe that despite hardship and personal loss there was also humour as ordinary people faced up to terrible adversity.

You certainly witness scenes of laughter, singing and dancing to old wartime favourite tunes up and down the streets of Haworth, with people wearing period dress, the Home Guard on standby and lots of troops of all nationalities striding up the cobbled streets.

However, Haworth Village Association, which organises the event, has asked visitors to refrain from wearing SS uniforms and regalia, due to complaints.

I was at the event last year, and it was just amazing how authentic everyone and everything looked. There were military vehicles, live entertainment, jive dancing, marching pipe band and Winston Churchill and The Queen were on hand to give stirring speeches. You could even pick up a copy of a 1940s newspaper.

If you’ve never been to the event, it’s hard to describe the atmosphere. Allied and Axis soldiers aren’t facing each other across the Maginot Line. In fact, you’re more likely to spot them sharing a pint outside the pub.

For some, the line between fantasy and reality may have blurred, but for most this is the one time during the year they dress up in clothes from another era.

My brother was evacuated from London during the war, and he didn’t have a very good time, so to see evacuees complete with battered suitcases, gas masks, and cardboard labels, was an evocative moment.

There’s a whole microcosm of the war years here with spivs, Americans, Russians and even the occasional Japanese, and as ever, the event – now in its 15th year – will conjure up some surreal images.

More than 20,000 visitors descended on Haworth last year, some from as far afield as Canada and Australia, and this year there will be an extra celebration – a wartime re-enactment to celebrate the work of the ‘British Oskar Schindler’ – Sir Nicholas Winton, who rescued 669 children from almost certain death during the war by getting the youngsters out of Prague and into the UK before hostilities broke out in 1939.

This amazing man kept his work secret for more than 40 years until his wife discovered a series of letters at his home.

The Keighley & Worth Valley Railway will be staging re-enactments of the rescue of the youngsters along the line and in Stanbury, Keighley and Haworth on Sunday – three days before Sir Nicholas’s 101st birthday.

It is hoped that among the crowds will be two special guests, Lady Milena Grenfell Baines and her friend Utta Klein, two of those who managed to find sanctuary in Britain thanks to his work.

Overseeing the event is K&WV line member Andy Kissack, of Haworth, who says: “I wrote to Lady Milena, who lives in Preston, and she said she would be interested in attending and hoped to bring along her friend and fellow evacuee Utta Klein.”

On Sunday at 2pm, the evacuees will parade up Main Street, escorted by 101st Airborne, after which, weather permitting, it’s the Royal MemoriaL flight by a Hurricane aircraft – which would have been a common sight during the war.

Those who were not on duty carrying out essential war work will be able to make the best of the wartime entertainment, which carries on long after the sun has set with some serious jitterbugging or jump and jive at the evening dances in the community centre.

So get out your demob suit and your cross-over pinny and head for Haworth for a weekend of pure wartime nostalgia.