Planned celebrations for VE Day that were to be held in the village hall were obviously cancelled some time ago. We spent instead a quiet day at home. I did manage to search out a few flags.
Generally life went on as normal.
A little bit of scaffolding for some chimney repairs was put to good use.
There was still some time for reflection on what World War 2 meant to my family. My mum was a child in Cornwall along with her 4 siblings ( 2 more were born post war). There were some adjustments to their lives. A shelter was built in the garden, gas masks worn to school.
Their father and grandfather were both involved in the home guard.
Mum tells stories of some kind of grenades being hidden in the garden with the detonators kept in a drawer....
Meanwhile in Bath my father like many young men spent his late teens and early twenties serving his country in the RAF as a radio operator. He was based in India for the duration. Sadly this picture depicts the last time he saw his mum who was killed in the Bath Blitz.
We have much to be grateful to them for.
Our modest celebrations consisted of a cream tea in the garden.
Meanwhile my mum and sister celebrated in mum's home with a very classy looking offering from the local farm shop.
A wonderful celebration. I like all your Union Jacks about & yes that is quite the package that your sister & Mum got for celebrating. Several of our local buildings had their provincial flags flying - Ontario's flag includes the Union Jack - celebrating our proud British heritage.
ReplyDeleteI'm reading The Splendid and the Vile about Churchill, focusing on one year in the war. It's over 500 pages, but so well written that it's easy to keep going on with it. It's not a fast read by any means. My parents never spoke much about the war, and I don't think there are any photos, but then the United States was never attacked after Pearl Harbor so life was very different here. Your photos are priceless.
ReplyDeleteLooks like you had a time of reflection as well as a celebration. Thank you for the stories and photos.
ReplyDeleteNan
Lovely old photos and stories. Glad you marked the day, however low-key. I should have thought of scones but didn't till it was too late. Neighbours had a noisy lockdown-flouting party with 12+ of them sharing BBQ and utensils on one front lawn. Other closes around here had what looked like delightful celebrations with bunting and each family on their own lawn, 1940s music playing. I went for a walk in the afternoon and just tried to soak up what atmosphere there was. Home in time to see our sovereign lady ont' telly! Need to catch up with some of yesterday's programmes as and when...
ReplyDeleteWhat poignant memories. That generation really did have a long upheaval to their lives didn't they? Puts our situation at the moment into perspective really. That looks like a lovely cream tea!
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