VE Day home celebrations taking place across Gloucestershire

Dig out the bunting, wave your Union Jacks and make a trifle, the VE Day celebrations might not be those originally planned, but the tea parties and picnics will go ahead in homes across Gloucestershire and the UK, this May bank holiday.

Published Monday 4 May 2020

The 75 year anniversary of VE Day will be celebrated in homes across Gloucestershire.

With the UK still in lockdown for the bank holiday VE Day anniversary, celebrations are now being planned in homes across Gloucestershire and the rest of the country.

This year, the bank holiday was moved specifically to Friday 8 May 2020, to mark 75 years since VE Day and an end of World War II in Europe. And, while the multitude of events planned across the long weekend to celebrate the occasion will not be going ahead, many will still celebrate with home parties instead.

Ideas being shared enthusiastically on social media to mark VE Day include hosting a celebration tea party, afternoon tea or picnic – with finger sandwiches, quiches and sausage rolls, simple seasonal strawberries and cream or a good old-fashioned trifle on the menu.

The nation’s lockdown obsession with baking will be put to good use with many making homemade Victoria sponges or fresh scones, if you can get hold of flour. With the excuse to sip an IPA or make a fruit-packed jug of Pimms also tempting plenty.

Families will also be joining in the fun by decorating their homes and gardens – and front windows – with Union Jack flags or red, white and blue bunting. With home schooled kids making their own paper chains and colouring in blank bunting templates found readily on Twinkl and elsewhere on the internet.

On the big day itself, the Queen will be giving a special address to the nation at 9pm on Friday 8 May 2020 – the same time that her father, King George VI, spoke to the nation 75 years ago on the original VE Day.

And television viewers can also tune in to a special programme on BBC One, which will see some of the UK’s biggest stars including Katherine Jenkins and Beverley Knight sing a rendition of the iconic ‘We’ll Meet Again’ by Vera Lynn.

We’d love to see how you celebrate VE Day in Gloucestershire. Tag your photos with #InThisTogetherGlos to share your celebrations.

As part of SoGlos’s #InThisTogetherGlos campaign, we are sharing positive news stories from across Gloucestershire, as well as joyful photos taken by readers in our Gloucestershire Coronavirus lockdown diary. Get involved, share your stories and pictures by using the #InThisTogetherGlos hashtag.