VE Day 80th Anniversary events - celebrations taking place across UK to mark momentous occasion

VE Day 1945 saw events celebrating the end of World War II break out across the UK - people flooded the streets taking part in events such as street parties and parades. The momentous occasion has been marked every year since.

In the early hours of May 7, 1945, US Commander General Dwight Eisenhower accepted Germany’s unconditional surrender of all its forces, with active operations to cease by 11.01pm the following day, making marked the end of six years of bloodshed in Europe which left 382,700 British Armed Forces members and 67,100 civilians dead.

The BBC interrupted its scheduled programming with a news flash announcing that VE Day, a national holiday, would take place the following day, while the announcement was broadcast over the radio late in the day.

VE Day 80th Anniversary events

That was 80 years ago and Britain is set to celebrate the special anniversary with events planned the length and breadth of the country. More than a thousand beacons and several hundred “lamp lights of peace” are expected to be lit across the UK recreating the jubilant scenes on the very first VE Day when people lit hundreds of bonfires and beacons following the news of the German surrender.

A gold-plated lamp light designed especially for the 80th anniversary of VE Day by Bruno Peek, will be carried into St Paul’s Cathedral, accompanied by two of the King’s Watermen and Lightermen, for the VE Day anniversary service at 5pm on May 8.

Mr Peek, pageant master of the commemoration, said the flames from the beacons and lights symbolise peace and remember the millions of lives lost to war. “In my personal view, we need to use every opportunity possible to promote peace with the way the world is going at the moment,” he said.

“People from all walks of life who are unable to light beacons can take part by lighting a lamp light of peace, with the flames from the lamp lights and the beacons representing the light of peace that emerged from the darkness of war.”

Principal town crier Jane Smith will also be leading more than 300 colleagues across the UK and the Commonwealth in a VE Day proclamation. The Bognor Regis town crier wrote the official VE Day 80 Proclamation that will be announced by hundreds of criers on May 8, and will be leading her region’s proclamation personally.

Mrs Smith said: “It’s very poignant for a lot of people because there are so many ways in which family members have been involved. There’s a lot of criers who are ex-military, so it’s obviously very significant for them, and also if there were people from their families that would have been involved in the conflicts.

“The people that are left, we’re very lucky to be where we are now as a result of a lot of people surrendering their own lives. My father was in the Navy. There are lots of people who have family members and people like that who have been involved in things like that. Makes you very thankful.”

A nationwide hymn to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day will be led by Britain’s Got Talent’s oldest ever winner, Chelsea Pensioner Colin Thackery. The 2019 series winner, now 95, will sing I Vow To Thee My Country from a prominent London landmark at 9.30pm on the day.

The National Association of Choirs will join in the singing of the hymn across the country. Mr Thackery said: “I’m excited, very excited to be doing it. It’s a great honour. My background is in the military, both myself and my family, and I was delighted to be able to do something. I’m delighted even more for it to involve singing.”

And even BBC soap EastEnders will be getting in on the action as the Queen Vic pub is set to reopen in a special episode marking the 80th anniversary. The episode will see the show’s characters coming together in the pub to remember those who lost their lives during the Second World War when it airs on May 8.

Jean Slater (Gillian Wright) and Phil Mitchell (Steve McFadden) will convince Queen Vic landlady Linda Carter (Kellie Bright) to reopen the pub, after it was destroyed in an explosion during the show’s 40th anniversary celebrations. Nigel Bates (Paul Bradley) will also be seen believing the party is planned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of VE Day in 1995 as his dementia takes hold.

Other moments will feature nods to wartime Britain, including historical footage and music associated with the Second World War and the celebrations that took place across the capital when the war ended.

EastEnders executive producer, Chris Clenshaw said: “Like many others across the UK who will be marking this poignant moment in history, we wanted to honour and remember those courageous individuals who gave their lives during the war with a special EastEnders episode marking 80 years since VE Day.”