VE Day: Dozens celebrate 80th anniversary across Gwent
Street parties and remembrance events took place in Newport, Caerleon, and Monmouthshire.
Laura Anne Jones, a member of the Senedd for South Wales East, joined the festivities in Llangybi, Monmouthshire.
She said: "It was great to go back to one of the lovely Monmouthshire villages that I used to live in, Llangybi, yesterday and join them for their VE Day celebration in their Village Hall.
"My son and I thoroughly enjoyed the tea party with homemade cakes, watching all about the war and VE Day and seeing all the memorabilia on display.
"A massive thank you to everyone involved in organising the event."
VE Day, which falls on May 8, marked the end of nearly six years of conflict in 1945, following Adolf Hitler's suicide and the unconditional surrender of the Germans.
The announcement was broadcast to the British public on May 7, 1945.
Ms Jones said: "I enjoyed having my six-year-old with me, as it's so important that the younger generations understand what happened and the bravery of his great-grandparents and many others across Wales and the UK that fought bravely to ensure that we could enjoy the freedoms we do today.
"We must never forget them."
It is estimated that 300,000 Welsh soldiers fought across every theatre of war in World War 2.
Ms Jones was also praised by the Welsh Government's Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing for raising awareness with the female veterans alliance for peer mental health support for veterans.
Newport Council is also set to host a special commemoration event on Thursday, May 8, to mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
The celebrations will be held at 7.30pm on the Queen Elizabeth II Playing Field, NP19 9ND.
Former West End star Anthony Stuart-Lloyd will compere the evening.
The line-up is as follows: a welcome from the leader of Newport City Council, Councillor Dimitri Batrouni, and a prayer read by Reverend Keith Beardmore.
There will also be performances from the Gwent Music Community Celtic Group, directed by Scott McKeon, and the Gwent Music Brass Ensemble, directed by Chris Turner.
Anthony Stuart Lloyd, a former West End performer, will also take to the stage, alongside the City of Newport Male Choir, directed by Sarah Jones.
An international tribute will be read by the Lord Lieutenant of Gwent, Brigadier Robert Aitken CBE, before a beacon is lit by the Lord Lieutenant of Gwent.
The evening will end with the lighting of the Lamp of Peace by the Mayor of Newport, Councillor Ray Mogford.
The cake at the VE Day celebrations in Llangybi in Monmouthshire (Image: Office of Laura Anne Jones MS) VE Day celebrations have been happening across Gwent (Image: Supplied) VE Day celebrations have been happening across Gwent (Image: Nicola Gapper) VE Day celebrations have been happening across Gwent (Image: Christina Dickson) VE Day celebrations have been happening across Gwent (Image: Christina Dickson)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Leader Live
42 minutes ago
- Leader Live
Rhos' popular Johns' Boys Choir announce tour dates
Renowned for their distinct rich harmonies that offer a contemporary take on the traditional Welsh male voice ensemble, the tour is set to showcase the choir's unique and celebrated sound. Johns' Boys Welsh Male Voice Choir, formed in Rhos, Wrexham, seamlessly blends contemporary chart-topping hits with choral classics, from Harry Styles to traditional Welsh hymns. Presenting a true highlight, the shows on this exciting tour will feature Johns' Boys viral cover of Calum Scott's Biblical, which they performed in their Britain's Got Talent audition and later released as a debut single. This worldwide hit reached number one on the iTunes Classical charts and has over 21 million views globally. They will also perform the Welsh hymn Calon Lan and Ennio Morricone's Italian song, Nella Fantasia. From young men of all ages and backgrounds, the ensemble come together to create an emotional, once-in-a-lifetime listening experience. Their appearance on Britain's Got Talent launched them into the international spotlight, where Simon Cowell stated 'A brilliant choir. I love them'. Amongst the choir's many accolades include being crowned the 2019 Choir of the World at the prestigious Llangollen International Music Festival, making them the first British male voice choir to ever win this award. The choir's tour dates for north Wales are as follows; Other shows will also see them perform at the likes of Cheltenham, Swansea, Bournemouth and Shrewsbury. TOP STORIES TODAY Aled Phillips, artistic director and conductor for the choir said: "As a group of men from all walks of life and a wide range of ages, it's an incredible honour to be on this extraordinary journey, performing to sold-out audiences in some of the most prestigious venues across the UK." He added: "Each show is a celebration of the music we love to sing, and the chance to connect with audiences through such a wide variety of genres makes every performance truly special. "Audiences can look forward to a rich mix of traditional classics, powerful opera, show-stopping musical numbers, and current chart-topping hits, all delivered with the unique sounds and passion that defines Johns' Boys."
Daily Mirror
an hour ago
- Daily Mirror
BBC The Gold star admits personal connection to £26m Brink's-Mat scandal
BBC crime drama The Gold is returning to our screens tonight - and star Charlotte Spencer has opened up about coming back to play Jennings and her real life connection to the crime The mystery of the Brink's-Mat robbery may have been solved in the first series of BBC One's The Gold – but the case is far from sealed shut. Hugh Bonneville and Charlotte Spencer return as London detectives in the drama's second series, inspired by the real-life 1983 robbery in which £26 million worth of gold bullion was stolen from a warehouse in Heathrow. While Micky McAvoy's gang were convicted over the theft in series one, only half of the missing gold was found. 'A lot of people have said, 'Oh my God, why is there a second series?'' says Charlotte, who plays detective Jennings. 'A lot of people don't realise that they actually only found half of the gold. 'There's a whole other half – a whole other story. There are many stories that happen from this and I think people are going to be amazed at just how far it spreads and how much this web keeps growing.' Jennings' relationship with her criminal dad is a source of conflict for her – however, in real life, Charlotte's father has his own link to the Brink's-Mat gold case. She reveals that her dad knew Neil Murphy, one of the police officers involved in the investigation, and mentioned the connection when he read the script. 'It was such a passing comment that I just thought it was amazing – and you tend to find that a lot of people knew people involved in whatever way,' she says. 'My dad hasn't spoken to that man for years but it's very rare that you get any kind of connection to a real story. 'For me, that was like, 'Wow – this was really ingrained in British culture.'' Despite filming the show's first series over two years ago, it didn't take long for Charlotte, 33, to get back into character as the unflappable Nicki Jennings who's incorruptible despite her family's criminal roots. 'This is the second time that I've done a series where my character has come back and there's just a really lovely feeling of going in and knowing the character,' she says. 'There's none of this panic about, 'Have I found it?' because I know where she is now. It's really lovely.' With several convictions now under her belt, Nicki is no longer trying to prove herself to boss Brian Boyce – played by Downton Abbey's Hugh Bonneville. 'We find her a bit more solidified in where she is now. She's already proved herself and she is a good detective,' she says. 'She's getting her head down and concentrating on finding these people.' The likes of Malpractice's Tom Hughes, Criminal Record's Stephen Campbell Moore, Cheaters' Joshua McGuire and The Witcher's Lorna Brown join the drama for the new series. Meanwhile, fans can expect to see Jack Lowden and Tom Cullen reprise their roles as criminal gold dealers Kenneth Noye and John Palmer. Despite playing cops and robbers on camera with The Gold's stellar cast, Charlotte and her co-stars were sunning it up during their downtime on location in Tenerife. 'It was so wholesome – a load of us would go out for dinner together and some people have young children so brought them out,' she reveals. Ahead of shooting intense scenes, Charlotte would listen to a playlist that she created specifically for Jennings – something that she does for every character she plays. 'I make the playlist and it might be really random stuff – whatever gets me into that mood for some reason or what I think they'd listen to. I listen to that on set and it gets me in the headspace,' she reveals. 'There was a lot of 1980s stuff – David Bowie and Queen's Under Pressure… even things like the Beatles that maybe she would have listened to with her dad growing up.' As for whether The Gold could return for a third series, Charlotte says, 'The story finishes after this otherwise we'd be in the realms of fiction, so this is the last series but I think that's right. 'I'll miss the fact that she genuinely wants to do good and there are people like that out there. 'There are police officers and all sorts and we don't see enough of them. Wholly good people who can make mistakes but the drive is for justice.' The Gold begins tonight at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
Metro
2 hours ago
- Metro
BBC's ‘brilliant' true crime drama made me question my own morals
It was a superb way to end the first season, telling us that in fact the six episodes we just watched had only been chasing half of the gold from the Brink's-Mat robbery. The second season of The Gold is concerned with the other half, half-inched by Charlie Miller (Sam Spruell), who was only half-glimpsed during the heist when the BBC show first aired in 2023. Unlike your standard heist drama, the 1983 robbery itself, which saw six men break into a depot near Heathrow for a bit of foreign currency, only to find £26million in gold bullion (equivalent to about quadruple that today), is of little interest to the show. Instead, we see how Miller and his gold slid under the radar for so long, before he decided to smelt the lot down and launder it. Miller fills the shoes of season one's Kenneth Noye (Jack Lowden) – who makes a return after being sent down by the Old Bailey – as the criminal at the heart of this enterprise, who is at pains to squirrel the cash away before the police catch up with him. He's joined on the baddie side by smooth-talking John Palmer (Tom Cullen). Viewers will remember Palmer as the smelter extraordinaire. We find him now having set up a money-grubbing timeshare business in the Canary Islands – one lucrative enough to land him on the Sunday Times Rich List. Both Palmer and Miller come from dirt poor backgrounds they never want to return to, continuing the first season's themes on the British class system. With much tactful speechifying, the criminals spin their ill-gotten gains as a way of getting back at the establishment. At times, it's hard not to be convinced, especially when they look like they're having so much fun. On the other side of the moral equation are Hugh Bonneville as the incorruptible copper Brian Boyce and his two young detectives, still beavering away years down the line. They're under-funded and under-staffed, often acting out their scenes in drab office buildings with little natural light and hawkish superiors telling them to pack up shop. It's not just the palpable absence of vibes that makes the police's side less of a rootin' tootin' good time. In the first episode alone Miller gets one over on Scotland Yard repeatedly – and has Danny Ocean-level swagger as he does so. In those moments, you can't help but think creator and writer Neil Forsyth hasn't also been a little bit seduced by the sexiness of being a bank robber. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video There were murmurs of this around season one, when Lowden's charismatic incarnation of Noye was compared to Robin Hood, endlessly speechifying on how the rich just get richer. TV is no stranger to an antihero (Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, to name just two) but it's further complicated when the real Noye was a gangster and murderer. When he was sentenced at the Old Bailey, he shouted to the jury: 'I hope you all die of cancer.' This fact was included in the drama, but a lot of Noye's behaviour was papered over by Lowden's cheeky chappy performance. With a true crime drama it can be easy to get sucked in and forget about the real people affected off screen. Especially when the ones doing the bad stuff are cocky, cool and flying around on a private jet. More Trending But the second season of The Gold has more creative license that also puts us slightly in the clear for being taken in by the villains. Miller and his snooty posh accomplice Douglas Baxter (Joshua McGuire) are composite characters, inspired by some of those involved in the Brink's-Mat story, instead of being real people. On the whole, The Gold is once again brilliant. Perhaps even better. Scenes zip along at a clip and Forsyth seems to have taken on board the criticism over last season's trite state-of-the-nation speeches. Just make sure you don't look up the Brink's-Mat Wikipedia page if you don't want spoilers. View More » The Gold season 2 is available to stream on BBC iPlayer now and airs on BBC One at 9pm on Sunday (June 8). Got a story? If you've got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@ calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we'd love to hear from you. MORE: Divisive horror movie full of 'grotesque monsters' now streaming on BBC iPlayer MORE: 'Doctor Who's finale infuriated fans – but the next series will fix everything' MORE: Bake Off legend claims she's been dropped by the BBC after 10 years on TV
