Ann Bright, sharing memories of her family's evacuation from Jersey and life in wartime Surrey"What a relief it was to learn that the war in Europe was over in May 1945! We celebrated with a bonfire on the nearby common and with a communal tea party for the children. Suddenly everyone was smiling and lights blazed out at night. After the years of gloom and tension, it was marvellous to be so carefree..."
"On May 7th, 1945, my mother and I were in Oxford Street on our way to the Middlesex Hospital. The street was deep in paper floating down from the windows and people were really excited saying, 'the Germans have given in and it's over'."
Jacqueline Bond, who picked up this rosette in Oxford Street that day
"Yeading Avenue was decked in red, white and blue bunting and trestle tables were set out more or less the whole length of the road. Everyone came out for this party, which was a massive celebration of survival, victory and above all, optimism for the future."
Michael Pearce's mother, Margaret, is holding his baby sister Susie (right)
Photo of WRENS marching in Portsmouth on VE Day.
Among them is Myfanwy Avril James, who had worked on chart correction for the D-Day invasion and was later transferred to the Fleet Air Arm.
Photo of VE Day celebrations in Portsmouth. Peter Charters, who lived in the city during the war, recalled the bombings, time spent in an Anderson shelter, and the joyful return to normality as peace was declared.
Photo of Field Marshal Montgomery with Allied officers at Luneburg Heath following Germany's surrender. The photo belonged to Bernard Victor Coldwell, a radio operator with 165 W/T Section, whose truck received the surrender message.
Stanley Dakin, a despatch rider and later sergeant in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, who escaped from Dunkirk and spent four years overseas in Iraq and India"We celebrated Victory in Europe (VE) Day somewhere in the Mediterranean and ceremoniously threw our solar topees (Indian sun hats) into the sea. As we approached home, we had to anchor off the coast of North Wales because of a dockers' strike in Liverpool. We were stuck there for about 3 days."
Souvenir programme for VE Day celebrations, Rear Headquarters, 2nd British Army, Lüneburg, 8-13 May 1945. Activities included football, bonfires, church services, and cinema shows with free beer. This copy belonged to Eric Winston, a driver with the Royal Army Medical Corps who had served since 1939.
Emrys Westacott, builder from Tredegar, South Wales, who served as an RAF airframe mechanic"Eventually the news that we had all yearned for came with the announcement that the war in Europe was over. One cannot put into words the joy and elation that was felt by all at the knowledge that all the hard work and the pain and suffering by so many had ended. There was, of course, celebration everywhere."
Photo of children watching a Punch and Judy show during the victory celebrations in Dore, South Yorkshire. The contributor recalled being taken to Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield, to watch George Formby in 'He Snoops to Conquer', followed by tea in the ballroom.
Invitation to Buckingham Palace for the VE Day 1945 investiture of Edward Woodhead of HMS Gulzar. He was awarded the DSM for rescuing troops under fire at Calais and during the Dunkirk evacuation.
Photograph from a South Wales street party. Avril, born in 1936, came from a mining family with multiple relatives in the Forces and Women's Volunteer Service. She watched the festivities from bed, having caught German Measles.
Group photograph taken at Filton on VE Day. Among those pictured is John Alfred Bridgeman D.F.M., RAF Flight Sergeant, who had returned from service in South Africa and Rhodesia to mark the end of war.
