On 8th May 1945 Winston Churchill announced that Germany had surrendered marking the end of World War II and Victory in Europe for the allied forces. People danced in the streets, waved flags and celebrated the end of 6 terrible years of war. It was declared a national holiday and those who had laid down their lives and those who had fought were honoured.

Today, in 2020, we have a very different war that we’re currently fighting. We have modern day heroes and heroines who are on the frontline against the coronavirus. VE Day 2020 is going to be a Stay at Home affair but doesn’t need to be any less fun!

How Will You Celebrate?

Depending on the weather (which is looking good for next Friday!) you could picnic in your front garden or driveway. Get baking! Have an afternoon tea fit for the Queen. Scones, cucumber sandwiches, quiche, flapjacks, cupcakes, Champagne (I’m fairly certain King George VI would have had a glass of bubbly on hearing the news), tea bread, macaroons, maybe even dig out the teapot.

St Albans Cathedral are calling it the Big Picnic of Hope - they are hoping to raise £5000 for the Trussell Trust, by asking those who can to donate towards providing another individual or family having food in their house for the day. 

Decorate the house

Making bunting is actually quite easy (as I found out a few weeks ago with my first attempt for Keyworkers!).

1.    Cut out about 25 triangles. The triangle size will depend on how much material or paper you have handy or how large you want to go – no one is judging you for covering your house and garden with bunting! (Although, I have bunting up most of the year for one celebration or another!) You might find a card template quite handy to keep the triangles the same size. Alternatively, you can print off some templates from the Town Council’s website.

2.    You can make it really simple by stapling or gluing paper triangles to a strip of ribbon. Or you can dust off the sewing machine and do a simple running stitch attaching the triangles to the ribbon. If you know how to make posh bunting with material and tacking then you probably stopped reading at “Making Bunting”!

You could even use this one done by MGT St Neot's!  Download a printable version.

Harpenden URC have also put together some bunting templates.

Traditionally, at Jubilees and national celebrations, British people use the colours red, white and blue from the Union Jack. However, there were many nationalities fighting for the Allies. Maybe your family has other flags that you can use to decorate.

Have a Sing Along!

Many families in Harpenden and the surrounds have taken to the streets singing, clapping and playing instruments every Thursday evening at 8pm to show their thanks for the NHS and keyworkers around the country. Music for Heroes - Harpenden & beyond have recorded some fantastic music specially to play along to on VE Day in the afternoon.

English Heritage have also provided a VE Day pack that has some 1940s dance moves and songs if you’re going to Step Back In Time!

Dress Up!
 
The perfect chance to wear that tea dress, slap on some lippy and put your hair in a “do” which for many of us will be a novelty having spent 7 weeks not necessarily even leaving our pjs every day! Unless of course you’re a gentleman… shirts and ties, polished shoes, hair wax and a cap to ‘doff’ to your neighbours!

 
Order of the Day

11am Official Commemorations begin with a two-minute silence

2pm Harpenden Town Council will be showing a video including the playing of the last post, Battle’s O’er and VE DAY 75, along with a toast to the heroes of World War II. The video will include the beautiful doves that local children have created and sent in to the council. You may spot the ones by MGT!  It's too late to make it into the video, but if you want to create some doves and hand them in your window for Friday you can download the template from the Town Council website.

2.45pm BBC One will broadcast Sir Winston Churchill’s famous victory speech

3.15pm Sing & Play along with Music for Heroes – Harpenden & Beyond

8pm BBC One in partnership with the Royal British Legion, will host a unique and unprecedented musical celebration VE Day 75: The People’s Celebration

9pm Queen’s Speech
 
If your children, like mine, hadn’t heard about VE Day, the British Legion has some teaching resources for KS2 – 4, St Albans Museum has some background and family activities and Bletchley Park, which played a hugely important role in WW2 has an activity pack to download. For those younger, they may enjoy Horrible Histories VE Day Song!

Just like VE Day 75 years ago, there will be mixed emotions this Friday. Many will want to celebrate, there is a chance we will be exiting lockdown, but many will be thinking about those they have lost in the past few months. During WWII 67,200 civilians died and as I write 28,131 British citizens have died from coronavirus. It’s a sobering time, but we all live in hope for a vaccine and happy times ahead.