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BBC News
05-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Weston-super-Mare over 60s group marks VE Day with tank push
Social club members in their 70s have completed a tank push to commemorate VE 60+ Social Singles group in Weston-super-Mare, in Somerset, walked the length of the promenade with cardboard tanks mounted on shopping group regularly participates in "wacky" fundraising challenges and have previously completed abseils and skydives. John Lenney, a Royal Air Force Veteran and organiser of the push, said: "It's for all the people who fell in the wars, to keep their memory going and also to teach the young ones what it's all about." The tank push also raised money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association to fund a voice box. The group has 50 members who are single and many of them are offers older people a chance to socialise and keep fit, with weekly activities like dancing, walking cricket and walking netball. Margaret Appleford, who organised the challenge alongside Mr Lenney, said the group is "one happy family". "For a lot of people, once they've lost their husbands or their wives or they've got divorced - when they become a certain age - they feel that there's nothing else left for them,' she said."We made this group up and it's just grown and grown and grown.' Ms Appleford said the fundraising aspect of the group helps to give people a purpose. "We're doing it for other people as well as ourselves,' she said."We're having fun, but we're also making other people happy.' SIMPLE GUIDE: Red Arrows, royals and street parties: What to look out forLIVE: Follow all the latest from VE Day commemorationsBBC FOOD: How to throw a VE Day street partyANALYSIS: Europe marks VE Day with Trump on its mindEXPLORE: More on VE Day
BBC News
05-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Street parties in North East and Cumbria mark VE Day anniversary
People across the north-east of England and Cumbria have been joining in the national celebrations for VE occasion commemorates Victory in Europe - the end of nearly six years of war on 8 May 1945 - when Nazi German forces surrendered unconditionally to the Allies in World War parties recreating the "spirit of '45" have been held in places including Durham, Hexham, Darlington and will continue until Thursday - VE Day's 80th anniversary. Speaking during the festivities in Hopetown, Darlington Borough Council's armed forces champion Rebecca Baker said it was important to remember the "massive sacrifices" people made during World War Two."It's a very poignant time right now and it's a very big anniversary, so making sure young people are aware just how important peace is and maintaining that is really valuable," she said. In Durham there was a community street party and nostalgia event in the Market dressed in 1940s clothing, there were vintage vehicles, a brass band and Walker, from Durham Parish Council, said: "I think it's incredibly important to remember."Today is all about peace and unity, it's not about glorifying war, but if we forget these wars we forget about all these terrible things that have happened and we will make these mistakes again." In Cumbria, local historian Joseph Ritson has been compiling a roll of honour listing those from Cleator Moor who took part in the said: "We have to remember the people who died, the people who served, the people on the home front and I think the young people today, the school children, are very keen on learning about all this in their local area."Much of what they laid down is what we have today, with the relative peace that we have and many of the industries we have here were, surprisingly enough, founded in that period of the second world war."Various landmarks will be lit up later, including Lowther Castle in Penrith. Follow BBC North East on X and Facebook and BBC Cumbria on X and Facebook and both on Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
05-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cambridge lights beacon for 80th anniversary of VE Day
A beacon will be lit in Cambridge later this week as part of a country-wide commemoration of the 80th anniversary of VE ceremony will take place on Thursday on Castle Mound to mark 80 years since Victory in Europe (VE) Day, when World War Two came to an end in County Council said: "Just like in 1945, VE Day will see the nation come together to honour and pay tribute to the millions of people across the UK and Commonwealth who served."The free Cambridge event will include music and a speech from Christopher Walkinshaw, deputy lieutenant for Cambridgeshire, and the beacon will be lit at 21:30 BST. The ceremony has been organised by the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Armed Forces Covenant Partnership, in collaboration with Cambridgeshire County Council and Cambridge City Kelly, from the Armed Forces Covenant Partnership said: "VE Day is a historic event for the country and communities across Cambridgeshire."Lighting the beacon is an opportunity for us all to come together to pause, reflect, and remember the generation that changed the course of history in Europe to secure the freedoms we enjoy today."The ceremony is free to attend and no booking is required. We hope as many people can join where possible to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day."There are more details about both VE Day and VJ Day (Victory over Japan) on the county council website. Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
02-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Lancashire pub due to close can stay open for VE Day party
A pub destined for closure has been given a week's reprieve so locals can celebrate VE Hare and Hounds in Whalley Road, Clayton-le-Moors, Lancashire, was scheduled to cease trading on 4 May due to rising owners, Thwaites Brewery, has said the deadline will be put back by a Loughlin, from the Friends of the Hare and Hounds group, said: "We're hoping we can save it. It's the heart of our community." 'Looking at fundraising' Mr Loughlin said a petition had raised over 1,200 signatures, but the property has been listed for sale for £495,000."It's a lot of money but we're looking at fundraising and are also in contact with a few breweries who are interested in keeping it open as a pub," he said.A spokesman from Thwaites said: "After a significant period working with a very good local operator, we've made the decision to close the Hare and Hounds pub in Clayton-le-Moors given the costs associated with running the venue."He said there were no plans to restrict how the property could be used when it was sold, adding that the company remained committed to running other pubs in the area. Listen to the best of BBC Radio Lancashire on BBC Sounds and follow BBC Lancashire on Facebook, X and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
BBC News
28-04-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Blind veteran makes candles for VE Day
"Making candles allows me to channel my thoughts and emotions into something beautiful."Tony Haskey has made a batch of candles to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE 65-year-old from Poole is selling them in aid of Blind Veterans UK, which has supported him since he became visually impaired."I hope that people can burn a candle, think of those who laid down their lives for us, and know that the candle is burning in their memory," he says. "It would be a wonderful thing for me and my heart," he Haskey has adapted his candle-making process because of his sight loss."I use talking scales to weigh up the fragrance, I'm using and I purchase wax in blocks of certain weights so I can cut them to the right size, consistently," he explains. Mr Haskey joined the Royal Marines aged later, on an overseas operation, he felt something amiss with his vision, and a medic told him he had an incurable eye says: "I was feeling low, I had to return to the UK alone and leave my unit and comrades behind."He was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a condition which worsens over time. Retinitis pigmentosa It is an inherited eye condition that affects the photoreceptor cells responsible for capturing images from the visual cells line the back of the eye in the region known as the retina and help with low light, peripheral vision, and seeing detail and these cells die there is a gradual decline in than 80 causative genes have been identified, and faults in any one of these can cause the Retina UK Mr Haskey was 27 when he was diagnosed, and he says his world "fell apart". "I was absolutely devastated by the news," he recalls."I went home from the hospital and started to contemplate what I'd been told. I got depressed and felt that was the end for me. "The career I'd set up to do well in had come to an end. I didn't know what job opportunities were available to me. "I was frightened and alone."But Blind Veterans UK sent him to its rehabilitation centre in 1993 to learn about basic housekeeping, cooking and computer literacy says when he arrived he was in a "deep void with no self-confidence, no self-worth and no self-belief" but that each day there was a "new beginning". Half of the profits for his candles will go towards the about VE Day's anniversary, he says: "As someone who is still fortunate to be here today, I look back at the legacy that the young men and women left behind and fail to see how anyone couldn't acknowledge their worth."We have our liberty today because of their sacrifice." You can follow BBC Dorset on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
