York museum which was Second World War base plans VE Day celebrations

Yahoo

22-04-2025

A major York attraction has revealed plans for the 80th anniversary of a defining moment in the nation's history.
The Yorkshire Air Museum in Elvington will hold celebrations to mark VE Day's anniversary on the weekend of May 10 and May 11.
Visitors to the Halifax Way site are encouraged to sport their best 1940s look and pose for photographs next to the venue's reconstructed Halifax bomber and Dakota paratrooper aircraft.
Visitors can pose next to the museum's reconstructed Halifax bomber (Image: Yorkshire Air Museum) During the Second World War RAF Elvington was home to Halifax bombers that flew on operations to Europe from 1943 until the end of the conflict.
Wartime re-enactors, vehicles, and displays will feature in the event called We'll Meet Again after the 1939 song by English singer Vera Lynn.
The on-site street party will also seek to emulate those that took place in May 1945 to celebrate the end of the war in Europe.
RAF Elvington was a base during the Second World War (Image: Yorkshire Air Museum)
Jerry Ibbotson, communications manager at the Yorkshire Air Museum, said: 'We'll Meet Again is always a hugely popular event and we think the street party will be a real hit.
'This year, we've got tables laid out for a street party, and anybody who wants to join in, whether a picnic with them or they buy from our cafe, can sit down and join us.
'There will be bunting and tables will all be dressed with tablecloths – all of that which you would have had at the street parties 80 years ago.'
City of York Council invited streets, communities, neighbours and families to apply for a free temporary street closure for their events and street parties from May 3 up to and including May 8.
Street parties will be held in towns and cities across the UK to mark VE Day's 80th anniversary next month – including community tea parties, 1940s dress-up events, and gatherings aboard Second World War warships.
Victory in Europe Day, known as VE Day, is celebrated on May 8 each year to mark the day the Allies formally accepted Germany's surrender in 1945.