A DORSET village will be declaring a state of war again this summer.

The popular Maiden Newton at War event will run from Friday, June 22 to Sunday, June 24 with a host of 1940s-themed entertainment invading the village.

As well as the traditional displays of military vehicles and re-enactments at the event, which is held every two years, there will also be military aircraft on show this time round.

Organisers have also lined up a series of top musical acts to add to the 1940s vibe across the weekend.

Event manager Andy Elliott said: “It all starts off on the Friday with a free event for those that have turned up from the re-enacting community and also to allow residents of the village to come in free of charge as a bit of a thank you to them for letting us take over their village.

“The rest of the weekend is going ahead with a similar pattern to previous years although this year we hope to have historic military aircraft on both the Saturday and Sunday and they will be doing displays for us.

“Then as always we’ve got the battles on the Saturday and Sunday in our big arena and the entertainment line-up is fantastic this year.”

As well as swing band Regular Joes, who will be headlining the musical line-up on the Saturday, acts performing over the weekend include New York based Manhattan Dolls as well as event favourites Dickie Lines and Maddie Brown.

The Maiden Newton at War organisers will also be working in partnership with the Armour and Embarkation event, a parade of military vehicles that will set off from Maiden Newton on the Saturday morning for a tour of the county.

Continuing the partnership theme, Mr Elliott said his team had also been working closely with the organisers of the Weymouth Veterans Parade, which takes place on Sunday, June 24 to ensure events do not clash and re-enactors, military vehicles and members of the public can enjoy both events.

Mr Elliot said: “We are hoping it’s going to be another very successful 1940s weekend. It’s looking like it’s going to be very busy.”

Mr Elliott said discussions were ongoing about vehicles from Maiden Newton at War taking part in the Dorchester Carnival, as they did two years ago, but as the carnival was a week before this year’s event it was harder to arrange and nothing was confirmed as yet.

For details about the event visit maidennewtonatwar.co.uk<&eh>