VE Day in 2020 was meant to be a special occasion, marking the 75th aniversary. However, the lockdown due to Covid-19 meant no village celebration or party because of the need to keep a social distance. However, the village was not to be deterred. The tree was decorated, there was a floral display, VE day memories were collected and put on display, and there was a cake for every villager - and a few more!!
A huge thank you to everyone for helping to make the VE Day celebration such a success. From the many lovely comments it gave great pleasure to those who came to have a look and those who passed by.
A special thank you to the ladies who provided the floral display: Beryl Price, Rae Kitchen, Pam Wilkinson, Judith Bateson and Clare Griffiths.
And to the bakers who, with the help of their families, made delicious cakes for everybody to enjoy: Corrie Pitman, Jayne Warnock, Amanda Carey-Evans, Catrin Calcaterra, Mary Thomas, Caroline Neudegg and Julie Merrett. And to Caroline and Liz Loch for distributing the cakes to those who couldn’t make it to the Green.
And, not forgetting all those wonderful people who thoughtfully and creatively dressed the tree and shared their wartime memories - it all added to the magnificence of the day!
We couldn’t have a party on the green but we certainly had the next best thing!
Here's a selection of photographs (there are also photos of the cakes further down the screen)
And there's a photo album on the St Hilary Community Facebook page (click on photos then on albums)
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| Fred and Alfie Pitman (Daran Las) | Monica and Terry Dennis (Ffynnon Wen) |
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| Bunting made by the Manor House residents | Isobelle Lowe (The Grange) & Maggie Fletcher (New Beaupre) | |
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| Helen Bithell (4 The Crescent) | Tim Neudegg (Burnaby House) and mother-in-law, Marilyn |
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| Oscar Ackerman (Little Hall Cottage) | Manor House Group |
Gill Clay's memories of VE Day
I vividly remember the Service of Thanksgiving for VE Day in Lusaka, Zambia, which I attended when I was nearly 8. My parents had sailed for Africa the day after their wedding in 1936 (Mum was 19) and they hadn't been allowed back since because of the war...They had spent most of that duty "in the bush" on "out-stations", hundreds of miles from anywhere, (including on the border with Tanzania, a former German colony). Mum's parents had moved to Kenya, but they were so excited to know that they would be able to get back "home" to England at last. So there was extra excitement in our family on VE Day!
We sailed later that year after a four day train journey to Cape Town, on S.S.Mauratania, an unconverted troop ship. She had been designed to carry 2,000 passengers. In the war she had taken 8,000 troops across the Atlantic too fast to need a convoy. We were 4,000, with the men in hammocks in the hold and 11 women & children in our cabin. My 3 brothers were 6 and 2 and 6 months old!.... We docked in Liverpool where my 6 year old brother fell from a gun emplacement he had climbed, onto the deck. He fractured his skull, so he and my father spent 10 days in hospital there before we could all be united with our paternal grandparents! What a happy day it was!
And, of course, there were all those wonderful cakes!
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| Josh and Riley (Bluebell Wood) | Mary Brown (The Crescent) | |
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| The Grove Cottage delivery |
If you have any photos to share, please email them to