logo
'I met my husband on VE Day 1945

'I met my husband on VE Day 1945

BBC News08-05-2025
'We met on VE Day - it was love at first sight'
9 minutes ago
Share
Save
Share
Save
Rita Harvey / Royal Star & Garter
Rita Harvey first locked eyes with Ken as she travelled home on the train on 8 May 1945
A 97-year-old woman who met her husband on a train on VE Day exactly 80 years ago has said it was "love at first sight".
Rita Harvey had gone to London with a friend to celebrate the end of the war and was travelling home on 8 May 1945 when Ken, who was serving in the Army, offered her his seat on the busy train.
They exchanged addresses to write to each other and married in East Molesey, Surrey, in 1951, living happily together until Ken's death in 1993.
Rita, who now lives at the Royal Star & Garter care home in Surbiton, shared her story as the nation celebrates the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.
Rita Harvey / Royal Star & Garter
The couple had a very happy marriage
"I wanted to go up to London to join in the VE Day celebrations, but I wanted some company so I asked a very good friend if she wanted to join me," said Rita.
"I wanted to see what was happening in London.
"We were drinking champagne and dancing in central London, and we had a wonderful day. Later we went to back to Waterloo to get the train home, and the carriages were packed," she said.
"Then, this lovely young man offered me his seat. That lovely young man was Ken, and it was love at first sight.
"We hit it off and he asked if we could exchange addresses and stay in touch. It was the start of a wonderful relationship and we were devoted to each other."
Rita, who is living with dementia, will be joining in with the celebrations at the Royal Star & Garter, which provides care to veterans and their partners.
Follow BBC Surrey on Facebook, on X and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@bbc.co.uk or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250.
Related internet links
Royal Star & Garter
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

English police forces loosen fitness test requirements
English police forces loosen fitness test requirements

Times

time28 minutes ago

  • Times

English police forces loosen fitness test requirements

Police forces in England have quietly reduced the difficulty of their fitness tests as a new analysis reveals they are among the easiest in the world. Last year, following pressure from the Police Federation, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) issued guidance to forces to lower the amount of running required in the annual bleep test. The new standard, which has been taken up by forces including Kent, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley and West Yorkshire, eased the requirements from level 5.4 — equivalent to four minutes 22 seconds of light jogging — to level 3.7, equivalent to three minutes and eight seconds of the same. Some forces, such as Surrey police, have also made the change for new applicants.

Is your garden out of control? Don't stress: embrace the chaos
Is your garden out of control? Don't stress: embrace the chaos

The Guardian

time34 minutes ago

  • The Guardian

Is your garden out of control? Don't stress: embrace the chaos

The growing season is at its peak. There have been harvests already and more to come. The boughs of our plum tree bend towards the ground, heaving with fruit, and there are new cucumbers and courgettes swelling with each warm summer day. My season started late, and since the spring equinox I feel as if I've been stumbling while I try to catch up. My crops are being outpaced by the creeping buttercup, couch grass and nettles that sneak under the chicken-wire fence. Self-seeded lemon balm and teasels pop up wherever there's a thumbnail's worth of bare soil. While it's a glorious time in the veg patch, all I seem to feel is overwhelm. While overwhelm is a feeling I know all gardeners experience at some point – whether in the depths of a long, soggy winter, or while watching blight take hold of their tomatoes, or just when contemplating a never-ending to-do list – it isn't something I see people talk about much. Beyond the carefully curated photos and the thoughtfully worded, triumphant captions shared on Instagram, there are other feelings the garden can induce that we growers ought to share more. Right now, it is a major source of frustration for me. Everything is growing so rapidly I've lost sight of what my garden can be – or what, perhaps, it ought to be. Instead of being a place of nature and nurture, joy and thriving, it feels draining and disappointing. But this isn't unusual and there is a gentle, sane way to manage these feelings. Stop. Stop trying to get on top of the weeds, the mess and the endless tasks. Just sit down amid the chaos of your garden at the height of summer and see it for the beauty it holds, not the things it has failed to be. A kind friend said to me recently that 'a messy garden is better than an empty one', and I've been leaning on the truth and reassurance of that statement to hold me steady as the illusion of control slips through my fingers. I'm also reminded of the wise counsel of skilled gardener and friend Andrew Timothy O'Brien, who wrote an entire book, To Stand and Stare, that embodies a gentler way of being with the plants in your garden. He invites us to pay attention to the garden as it expresses itself, embracing what it has to say even when it's not part of our plan, and taking the time to be with the garden instead of relentlessly doing. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion We can more intentionally cultivate the relationship with our patches of earth when we ease our grip on what we want our garden to be and meet it where it is. The to-do list will persist, of course, but perhaps we can learn to live with getting less of it done.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store