Memories of VE Day 70 Years Ago

Published on: 8 May, 2015
Updated on: 11 May, 2015

Seventy years ago today (May 8) there was a public holiday in Britain to celebrate the end of the Second World War in Europe – VE Day.

Here, DAVID ROSE looks back to some of the local events with pictures from his archive collection and with people’s memories. It was a day to remember with much celebrating going on that day and also the next – VE Day+1, which was also a public holiday.

The act of military surrender by the Nazis to the Allies was signed on May 7, 1945, in Reims, France, and Berlin, Germany the following day. Although the British government soon announced that there was to be a two-day public holiday, many of the street party celebrations did not take place until the Saturday, May 12, by which time people had quickly organised the events which many children attended.

Throughout Britain people took to the streets to celebrate, although it wasn’t until August 14, 1945, that the war in the Far East ended when Japan surrendered.

A house in Recreation Road decorated with bunting in 1945.

Guildfordians wasted no time in preparing for the celebrations. By the morning of May 8 homes and business premises were awash with red, white and blue decorations, fluttering in the damp air.

After nearly six years, prominent buildings were once again floodlit and bonfires burned after dark.

Loudspeakers at the Guildhall in the High Street and at the police station in North Street broadcast Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s wireless broadcast and later the King’s speech.

The Mayor of Guildford in 1945, Wyckham Price.

During the morning of May 8, the Mayor of Guildford, Wykeham Price, broadcast from the Guildhall the programme of events for VE Day, inviting everyone to join in the dancing in the streets. And the people answered his call and came out in their droves. It was reported that their behaviour was exemplary with it being just a little boisterous later at night. However, “everyone was in the best of tempers”.

On VE Day+1 there was a youth rally victory parade down the High Street, led by the Boys’ Brigade Band. Unfortunately three of the musicians were in collision with a car. They receiving slight injuries and were taken to the Royal Surrey County Hopital.

Of the many street parties that took place over the following days the local press reported on a number of them. In Woodlands Road, Stoke, a party was held on the green. Thirty-seven children enjoyed an excellent tea, followed by games and races. Singing followed and later a bonfire was lit.

More than 40 children in Baden Road, Stoughton, were entertained by parents, neighbours and friends, with a table set in the centre of the street with music provided by a piano and an amplifier.

Three hundred children from Guildford Park estate were entertained to a victory tea party in Onslow Village Hall on May 11.

Children from Rydes Hill are gathered for a photo. Many of them appear to be squinting at the camera – the sun must have been in their eyes.

On a site in Rydes Avenue where a bomb fell in 1940, causing a number of casualties, three of them fatal, children sat down to tea, each with a paper hat and a trumpet. An effigy of Hitler was burned on a huge bonfire.

Sunday, May 13, was observed as a day of national thanksgiving for the victory in Europe. In Guildford, the mayor and members of the council attended morning service at Holy Trinity Cathedral Church, and in the afternoon there was a drumhead service at the sports ground in Woodbridge Road, in which 1,500 people took part, including the 5th Cadet Battalion of the Queen’s Royal Regiment.

An open-air thanksgiving service was held on the Sunday evening in Paynter’s Close, Bellfields. A lorry was used as a pulpit platform and a collection made £2 2s (£2.10).

When the men returned to work at Dennis Bros after the two-day holiday, a thanksgiving service was held at 11.30am in the canteen which was full to overflowing.

John Lomas writes: “I was only three and a half years old and don’t have any particular memories, but I was told that this photo was taken at either a VE or VJ Day party in Byrefield Road, Guildford. I am the tallest of the three boys in the middle.

Byrefield Road in Stoughton held a street party. John Lomas is the tallest of the three boys.

Bernard Parke was a young laddie in short trousers when the war ended. He said: “Many people went into Guildford High Street where impromptu dancing  broke out mostly to tunes like Knees Up Mother Brown. The Bulls Head pub was packed. Some of those in the pub left their children on the pub steps outside clutching a celebration glass of lemonade.”

“The Guildhall clock had been removed to a place of safety and had not at that time been replaced. Bonfires were hastily lit around the town, as fires outdoors at night had been banned during the war.”

Street party in Ardmore Avenue. The young Bernard Parke is second from the left!

Eddie Soan’s father Stanley was the signalman at Shalford Junction and their home was a railway cottage opposite the signal box. He said: “My dad got hold of a big Union Jack flag and hung on the wire fence beside the railway line.”

Party at Westborough School to celebrate the end of the Second World War in Europe.

David Bailey is featured in the above photograph of children from Westborough School in Southway at their party. He lived in Beckingham Road at the time and says that the fancy cake seen in the photo was not real!

In my book Guildford The War Years (co-written with Graham Collier and published by Breedon Books in 1999), people’s memories were included along with some of the reports seen above. Dr Sara Serpell wrote: “I think when VE Day came it was almost an anticlimax, as it had been anticipated for several weeks beforehand. We had a bottle of Bulmer’s cider bought from Shalford’s Forrest Stores, to celebrate.

“All public transport was cancelled and shops shut, so mum and I walked into Guildford. All round us people were laughing and celebrating. She took me into Holy Trinity Church to say ‘thank you’. There was one other women there kneeling in the north aisle, weeping. Outside I asked Mum what had happened. She explained that the woman had probably lost someone in the war.”

VE Day party at Pitch Place, Worplesdon. It took place in the grounds of The Hazels (now Cumberland Avenue) by what was then the Friary Brewery’s sports ground.

Barbara Giles remembers VE Day. She said: “I can’t remember exactly whether I heard the official announcement from Winston Churchill. I was 15 and I think I was with my friend Valerie Langmead when the news went round. We both went to the Commercial College on Reigate Hill.

“I think we took part in dancing in the street by the town hall in Reigate, but I can’t remember how we got there or who we danced with. Later there was a street party in Woodside Way, Salfords, where I lived with my mum, dad and younger sister. Like lots of other streets we set up trestle tables and had tea and cakes to celebrate.

“We knew the end of the war was coming but it was still a terrific relief when it did. I think we believed that rationing would end quickly but it went on for years. My daughter, born in 1952, even had a ration book.”

A party took place on the Tilehost estate, Stoughton, for the residents there. This picture was given to me by Josie Roker.

Having spoken to many people over the years about their experiences of the Second World War and having read newspaper accounts of those times, what seemed to please and fascinate people so much was the ability to have street and floodlighting back on, not to mention, lighting bonfires at night! The blackout had been in force since September 1939, although it was partially lifted towards the end of the war.

Having fun in Grantley Gardens, Woodbridge Hill.

There were also happy scenes in Guildford’s neighbouring town of Woking. I also write a weekly column for the Woking News & Mail called Peeps Into The Past. This week’s edition focuses on that town’s celebrations at the end of the Second World War in Europe. However, my research has found that the council there didn’t appear to do much to help with the fun that eventually took place.

The Woking Review newspaper in its June 1945 edition was particularly scathing in its attack on Woking Council over its “lack of interest and inactivity on the VE Days”.

It wrote: “While other towns close by had floodlighting, organised street dancing and other activities, Woking Council did nothing. It is useless to say there was not time to act. Other towns had their celebrations planned days in advance. But for the activities of private individuals [in Woking] there would have been nothing for the crowds.”

But there were unforgettable scenes outside Woking’s Albion Hotel during the evening of VE Day when nearly 2,000 people danced in the street to music relayed over load speakers.

It was reported that at first the crowd was a little shy, but that soon disappeared as they “let themselves go”.

Police officers stood by amicable smiling as fireworks were let off in the road. There were army, navy and airforce personnel among the crowd including Canadian and American soldiers.

The end of the celebrations that night was marked with the singing of the National Anthem and Land Of Hope And Glory. But the next night the celebrations continued with up to 3,000 people taking part in community singing and dancing outside the Albion Hotel. Elsewhere bonfires were lit and one unfortunate incident reported was that some children set a local common alight.

In Woking, pubs were allowed to open for an extra two hours, although some ran out of beer. Flags and bunting was hung from the Constitutional Club, and the bells rang out at churches in the town and in nearby villages.

VE Day part in Courtenay Road, Woking.

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