North East and Cumbria celebrate VE Day 80 years on
"It was like nothing I'd ever seen," 102-year-old RAF veteran Kenneth Johnson said of the VE Day celebrations in 1945.He is one of thousands across the north-east of England and Cumbria commemorating the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe.Services and parties have taken place across the region, including parades in Redcar and the unveiling of a poppy art installation in Windermere, ahead of the lighting of beacons later as part of a national hilltop ceremony. "Everyone was waltzing and snake dancing [conga lines] - it seems quite silly now," Mr Johnson remembers.
Mr Johnson, from Darlington, "broke out" of his barracks near Aylesbury to attend the VE Day celebrations. After enjoying themselves, Mr Johnson said he and his fellow comrades spent the night in an "underground shelter" and the following morning attempted to "sneak back" to their barracks."When we got off the train we saw the Red Hats [military police] were waiting at the station, they grabbed a few lads but we ran and hid," he said. After getting back to the aerodrome base, Mr Johnson realised they were not the only ones to have left so he escaped disciplinary action. He was 23 when the war in Europe ended and admits of feeling a sense of "relief" on hearing the news, but the memories are still there."The war was a terrible, I hope it's remembered, not what I did, because greater people played their parts than me."
One hundred-year-old George Young, from Amble, was stationed in Sri Lanka with the RAF during World War Two.He now spends his time with his family playing golf, but told BBC Radio Newcastle how he still remembered his years spent in service. "Height of winter, freezing conditions, storms, wind, anything could have happened," he said. "I lost four years of my young life. I'd just joined the Amble golf club as a boy but the war started, the army moved in."Mr Young was called up for service at the age of 18.He said: "I remember firing a Sten gun, throwing a live hand grenade and on the passing out parade, we were the smartest guardsmen."There aren't many of us left so it is good to have a record of what did happen."
Parades and services have taken place across the North East, including in Redcar, where hundreds of veterans and service men and women walked from the boating lake to Redcar Beacon.In Cumbria, primary school children marked the occasion by dressing as war evacuees.Briony, a pupil at Windermere's St Martin and St Mary Church of England Primary, said VE Day was about "remembering all of the soldiers who gave up their lives for all of us and tried helping us live in peace".Fellow pupil Noah said: "Soldiers, and not just soldiers but other people, have tried to make this world a better place for us to live in so we don't have to live in more world wars."
The students were also part of a project in which four Windermere schools helped create 4ft (1.2m) poppies under the guidance of artist, Donna Campbell.They have been installed in various locations in the town, including at the war memorial where a short service was held for VE Day. A beacon ceremony will take place in Windermere later, held on the summit of Orrest Head. It will be lit at about 21:30 BST as part of a national network of hilltop beacons.
Lord Mayor of Newcastle, councillor Rob Higgins, will light the flambeau beacons in Newcastle later, and the lighting of a beacon at Keel Square, in Sunderland will also take place.Hundreds are already gathering to get their spot in the square for the lighting ceremony.Joanne Willis and Michelle Jenkins, both from Sunderland, have been in Keel Square all day. They told the BBC they were "excited to be here" and would be staying until the beacon is lit tonight.
Beverley Thirwell and her mother Eileen Thirwell also grabbed their seats for the ceremony. Eileen was alive during World War Two and remembers the original VE Day when she was just 14."It was lovely, everybody was singing," she said.Beacons in Northumberland, County Durham, Hexham, Blyth and South Tyneside will also be lit.
Additional reporting by Andrew Watson, Phil Chapman and Jim Scott.
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