Brits party like it's 1945 as UK celebrates 80th anniversary of VE Day with a proper knees-up

The Irish Sun

05-05-2025

BRITAIN partied like it was 1945 yesterday as the nation celebrated the 80th anniversary of VE Day with a proper knees-up.
Street parties sprung up across the land once again amid happy songs and dance.
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Six proud women in their homemade Land Girl outfits in Preston
Credit: Getty
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A street party in Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham
Credit: Glen Minikin
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A party arty begins for a Lancs knees-up in Lytham
It was a fitting toast to those who gave their today so we could have our tomorrow.
Wartime music played as people — young and old —
Some dressed up in 1940s military uniforms while others paid a heartfelt tribute to the defiant backbone of
The nationwide party kicked off at
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Over in Downing Street,
Among the guests were Second World War
Bunting was hanging over the tables and draped over the ground floor windows of No 10.
Over in Preston, Lancs, six women stole the limelight as Land Army Girls — as they paraded proudly down a party street.
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And in nearby Blackburn, around 10,000 turned up for a party in the park.
Karen Turner, 51, who was there with her family, said: 'Eighty years is a big milestone and it's important we celebrate it. There are not many veterans still with us.'
VE Day was a 'jolly' moment but work went on, 100-year-old former Wren says
Thirty miles west, in Lytham, a
And in Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, families gathered at a party at Preston Park Museum.
A late Victorian Street with period shops and cobbles was repurposed into a 1940s theme with wartime music played across the Union Jack festooned tables.
Sheila McIntyre, 73, dressed as a Land Girl, said: 'It's nice to see something happening that has a real community feel to it.'
Meanwhile, London's East End — flattened by the Nazis during
Wapping, home to the docklands and shipyards, was bombed for 57 consecutive nights during the war.
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Luka, seven, and Connor, six, join the party in military outfits in East London
Credit: Peter Jordan
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Performers Polly and Cathy entertain crowds as Vera and Lynn at Cardiff Castle
Credit: WNS
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A patriotic woman waves her Union Jack hat with pride at a street party in Lytham
Credit: Getty
But yesterday, with a hat tip to history, hundreds gathered on the village green.
Tom Simpson, 40, who took his son Luka, seven, said: 'It's important to celebrate it this year — perhaps more now than ever. We don't want history to repeat itself.'
Carer Katie Mountain, 40, with son Connor, said: 'We look after our own in Wapping and we're doing that today.'
In South Wales, Cardiff Castle welcomed hundreds of families to a mass picnic on its giant lawn.
Performers Polly Kilpatrick and Cathy Peace entertained the crowds as Vera and Lynn.
In the North Yorks village of Kildwick, locals enjoyed a ration supper before listening to voice recordings of elderly residents who lived through
And in Hull, thousands flocked to East Park in the sunshine.
Singers in period costume belted out wartime classics.