Gazette reader Garry Barclay sent in these pictures, which show his grandfather Joseph William Barclay, then a Sergeant Major in the Army, taking part in a re-enactment of the Battle of Falkirk at the Tidworth Military Tattoo in 1936.

Garry has been exploring his family history and came across the pictures. Although he does not know what regiment his grandfather served in, he knows that he played William Wallace, leader of the Scottish forced who battled King Edward 1 - and that the role of the English king was taken by a Scotsman!

He has had the original pictured coloured since discovering the black and white copies.

In its heyday, the reputation of the Tidworth Military Tattoo was as great as those held in Edinburgh. The first Tidworth Tattoo took place in June 1920, taking the form of a pageant enacted on the grass behind Tedworth House, now the centre of operation for military charity Help for Heroes.

It quickly became a very popular annual event and special trains from London, Birmingham and Wales arrived at the station in Tidworth, where the present Naafi/Spar is located. People from all over Wiltshire took to horses and carts, and later charabancs and coaches, to attend.

The tattoos stopped in 1938 with the outbreak of WW2 but were restarted in May 1966 and ran until 1976. A Tattoo and Beating Retreat was held in June 2000 to mark the Millennium and the most recent was held on July 18, 2002 to mark the Queen’s Golden Jubilee.