Following our post on social media to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day on 8th May, Bernard Collins (class of 1951, 1944 joiner) shared with us this extraordinary picture of a VE party on Harton Road, where he lived at the time.

Here is an extract from Bernard's biography: 

May 8th 1945, my twelfth birthday, heralded VE Day, celebrating the end of hostilities in Europe. What I remember of this day was being obliged to queue up for two hours at Barton's Bakery for two loaves of bread, our weekly ration!

That day saw dad setting up an outdoor stage on the footpath path outside our house. He utilised three Morrison shelters as the stage and built and painted a surrounding facade. 

On May 9th the all day and all night party started. People came from miles around and filled our street. A major attraction was that we had a marvellous pianist living in our street, namely Daisy Hodges. She was the resident pianist at the Exhibition Pub on the Green. She played by ear, and her adage was, as one song writer so aptly put it, "you 'um it dear, I'll play it". You may be interested to know that she was the mum of Chas Hodges of "Chas and Dave" fame. 

Anyone who was able to perform in any manner did so, even yours truly; I had an acceptable alto singing voice and did my part singing some of the favourite songs of the time. It deserted me when I turned 15.