大象传媒

Bill was sixteen on VE Day, just two days short of his seventeenth birthday.

Bill remembers attending school one day where there were three or four blue corporation buses, loading up with children ready to be evacuated to the countryside. His mother said he wasn鈥檛 going anywhere. Bill spent his entire childhood in Hull, which was the most bombed city outside of London.

He remembers visiting the cinema during the blitz, his name was projected on the cinema screen and his mother had to collect him from the foyer such was the danger of bombing at the time. The air raid shelter he and his mother sought refuge in was packed right up to the doorway.

On VE Day, a victory tea was laid out for the residents of Glencoe and Claremont Avenues located off Scarborough Street. The parents of the children had set up a camera and asked Bill to take the photo. It was for the younger children really, but Bill was only too happy to oblige, everyone contributed in those days.

Bill remembers his time in the city centre; people were dancing in the fountains, playing pianos in the streets. It was just a big celebration, everyone was just so relieved.

Image: The photo Bill took of children from Glencoe and Claremont Avenues

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