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Flint knitted out with yarnbombs to mark VE Day anniversary

Flint knitted out with yarnbombs to mark VE Day anniversary

Leader Live28-04-2025

Various Second World War-themed knitted displays are in Flint to mark 80 years since Victory in Europe on May 8, 1945.
It meant an end to nearly six years of a war that had cost the lives of millions; had destroyed homes, families, and cities; and had brought huge suffering and privations to the populations of entire countries.
There is a Winston Churchill yarn bomb - with the prime minister doing the peace sign. There are also doves to mark peace, a Spitfire aircraft and child evacuees.
(Image: Nathan Griffiths) Bollards on Flint high street are also covered in sailors, nurses and soldiers.
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Nathan Griffiths has decorated the town with the yarn bombs. He said: "I work alongside Anne Watties, a lady from Taunton in Somerset who does all the knitting and sends them to me. I got to know Anne after I asked her to design some for Jade Jones at the Olympics.
"They are all her own designs and not from a knitting pattern. She's very talented. It takes roughly three weeks from the planning to the knitting."
(Image: Nathan Griffiths) He added: "While celebrating VE day we all should take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices that people who served at home and abroad for theie contributions in securing peace.
"It is good to come together as a community to celebrate and remember what had been achieved.
"It has been lovely hearing all the comments and seeing parents taking their children to see the displays. This is a way of teaching the children and younger generation the history and the impact that war has and the importance of peace."

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D-Day: Why today's young generation will be just as brave if war comes
D-Day: Why today's young generation will be just as brave if war comes

Scotsman

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  • Scotsman

D-Day: Why today's young generation will be just as brave if war comes

In 1933, the Oxford University Union overwhelmingly passed a motion 'That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country'. A few years later, many who voted in favour did just that Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Exactly 81 years ago today, at around 6.30 in the early morning light, the first waves of what amounted to some 156,000 Allied soldiers by the end of the day landed on the beaches of Normandy. They had been preceded the night before by roughly 23,400 comrades who landed by parachute and glider. The long-awaited liberation of Nazi-occupied Europe had begun. 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They achieved total air supremacy over the entire operation and few German Luftwaffe sorties were flown on the day. For the young men involved – and they were mainly young men – the experience must have been in turn exhilarating, frightening, and terrifying all at once. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad And yet they did it. A combination of meticulous planning, lengthy training, and good junior leadership saw them through. Plus an element of luck of course. Nothing can prevent a random bullet or shell finding its mark if you just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. The invasion signalled the beginning of the end of the Second World War in Europe. Although there was almost another year of hard fighting to follow, the combination of assault by the Allies in France and the Soviet armies pressing in the east, plus the non-stop bombing campaign over Germany, meant there could ultimately be only one winner. 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When they were finally persuaded that D-Day was indeed the main event, it was too late. Piper Bill Millin, seen later, played 'Hielan' Laddie' and 'The Road to the Isles' as British soldiers landed on Sword beach on D-Day (Picture: Galerie Bilderwelt) | Getty Images An existential threat A military effort of such a colossal magnitude is, of course, beyond Britain's Armed Forces today. Our services have atrophied to such an extent since then that we have but a fraction of the assets nowadays, not helped by what is coyly referred to as the 'Peace Dividend' after the end of the Cold war and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. In fact, a similar military adventure is beyond the powers of the world's only true superpower, the United States, too. It would now take many years for the former Allies to build up their resources to a similar level. Thankfully, unlike in 1944, we are not facing an existential threat to our national survival and the enemies and potential enemies we face today are few and far away, in conventional military terms at least. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad A question that is often asked is whether today's young men and women would be prepared to fight for the UK and put their lives on the line as did previous generations. Polling tends to be ambivalent on the subject, with some saying yes and others no. I am reminded that the Oxford University Union held a debate on the very same topic in 1933, the year Hitler rose to power in Germany. The motion was "That this House will under no circumstances fight for its King and country", and it passed with 275 votes for and 153 against. And yet a few years later, many who voted for it were in uniform. I suspect today's generation would follow the same pattern. 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Trump signs order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering US
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Trump signs order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering US

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105-year-old Second World War airman given funeral family 'never dreamt of'
105-year-old Second World War airman given funeral family 'never dreamt of'

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timea day ago

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105-year-old Second World War airman given funeral family 'never dreamt of'

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