大象传媒

This story was submitted to the website by Eleanor Fell at the Hillcrest Centre on behalf of Mick Butcher who understands the sites terms and conditions.

During the war I lived in a little village in Mid Sussex called Fletching, I attended the local village school, Fletching Church of England Primary School. I was 14 the day after VE Day.

I have a very clear memory of VE Day. The first we heard of the victory was on the radio, that the war in Europe was finally over. We all felt relieved but also ecstatic - we had all lost someone during the war and it was great it was finally over. All the school children walked to the village church, St Andrew and St Marys, across the road, for a special thanksgiving service. Then we were given the day off school, which was brilliant, so we spent the rest of the day riding our bikes about the village.

My grandmother had saved some fireworks from before the war and gave them to me a day early for my birthday present! So I got all my friends together that evening and we had great fun setting off the fireworks. For the first time in a long time there was no blackout and sky was lit up with my birthday fireworks.

It was a bitter sweet night, as we remember lost friends and family and it stays in my mind as clear as if it happened yesterday

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