‘It's so important to remember': Manchester celebrates VE Day

The Guardian

05-05-2025

It's lunchtime in Manchester, and neighbours spanning three generations in Chorlton are celebrating VE Day with music, union jack hats and England's favourite delicacy: the sausage roll.
It is one of 20 street parties happening across the city on bank holiday Monday to mark the day when the allies formally accepted Germany's surrender in 1945.
Ignore Lady Gaga in the background, and the sight of children running freely on the road in between tables laid out with cake and red-white-and-blue flags is reminiscent of spring 1945.
Carol Wilkinson, 67, sporting a dress with union jacks, spent the morning cooking for the party. She believes the celebration is particularly significant in teaching young people about the sacrifice made by those in the war.
She says: 'You've got to remember we wouldn't be here if those people had not done what they've done for us. And I think unfortunately with the younger generation, it's not something they're really taught a lot about in school. I know they learn about world wars, but they don't really know about the sacrifice people made.'
Her husband, David Wilkinson, 73, a retired butcher who has lived on the street for 50 years, echoes a similar sentiment. He says: 'It's so important to remember all the people that have fought for this country, and a lot of them lost their lives. And to be fair, people on both sides, the Germans as well, they lost an awful lot of people.
Wilkinson, whose father was in the Black Watch regiment, added: 'I think everyone should think about everyone. The war shouldn't have happened really, but unfortunately it did.'
Gareth Mulreid, 45, who is visiting his parents on the street, believes occasions like this are becoming more important as time goes on. He says: 'Now it's getting older I'm realising we are going to get to a stage now where there won't be anyone left from world war two.
'I was born in 1980 – 35 years after world war two, which seems like not a long time really, in hindsight. So it's a bit of a crazy thing to think it was that close to when I was born. It's hard to imagine, but these people laid down their lives for people to be free today.
Bev Craig, leader of Manchester city council, says: 'As the decades go on and the second world war moves further from living memory, it makes it more important than ever that younger generations learn the lessons of history and keep alive the spirit of those who served our country.
'This is why we have been keen as a council to encourage and facilitate street parties, community events and celebrations not just today but across the summer. From our planned civic commemorations to events in schools to today's street parties, it's great to see so many communities coming together to celebrate all that's good about modern Manchester – that is what Manchester is all about.'
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Just up the road from Chorlton, in Moss Side, Wendy Simms, founder of the charity Keeping it Real 24/7, is hosting her own VE Day party. But in place of union jacks, a colourful collection of flags from all over the world are hung across a marquee.
Simms, 59, was inspired to host a party to commemorate black service personnel who lost their lives in the war. It is part of the war's history that she feels is often neglected.
She says: 'Personally, especially coming from the Caribbean, I believe black people have not been recognised in the war.
'I didn't want to do VE Day, but this gave me an opportunity to say: 'You know what, here's my people and what they died for.' Let's go out and celebrate that day, the families and everything that happened with them.'