I suppose that I must look old enough to have been around in 1945 and reasonably aware of what was going on, so when I was asked by a young Beaver to help him and his friends who were finding out about VE Day, I was pleased to oblige.  It was certainly one of the most important days of the last century. For over 5 years – and that was the first 5 years of my life, our houses had been bombed, our food had been rationed, our dads, uncles and big brothers were away fighting, getting wounded, getting killed.  It had been a terrible time. At last our enemy had surrendered. We could take down the air raid shelter in the front room, there was no more shrapnel, (the bits of bomb cases) to collect on the way to school, no more listening for enemy bombers or for the ‘doodle-bugs’ (we would call them drones today). Suddenly the world around us was changed, and we were going to have a big party to celebrate. 

I lived in a street of 90 houses in West London. There were shorter streets with fewer houses at each end. There were lots of children and we all got together so that all our friends could join in the fun. Our parents brought out tables and chairs and lined them down the middle of the road. I am sure that even with the shortages of food everyone put something on to the tables. Special things which they had been saving up for a day like this.  I remember the jellies, blancmanges and sponge cakes, the sort of things that were real treats which my friends and I loved to eat.   Up and down the road, as the party got going, people were doing different things, singing, dancing to the music from a gramophone, talking about the war and wondering about what the future would be like. We played games, shouted ‘God save the King’ and sang a few of the songs we knew by heart like ‘It’s a long way to Tipperary’ and ‘Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag’.

The party went on for a long time, even after it was dark, but I was taken in and sent to bed. The first thing I remember of the next day was waking up to hear a train at the nearby station. For years afterwards that comforting sound reminded me that I was safe and that thank God there were no more bombs.

It is a tragedy that today for young children in many parts of the world their ‘VE day’ has yet to come.

David Peacock