On the 7th of May 1945 at 7.30pm the B.B.C. interrupted a piano recital to announce that the war in Europe was over and that the following day would be V.E. Day, a public holiday.
In Scarborough there was a brief civic occasion in the Town Hall Gardens on May 8th, whilst churches organised their own thanksgiving services. Most adults tried to listen to Churchill’s radio broadcast at 3.00 p.m. “The evil doers,” the prime minister intoned, “now lie prostrate before us.” Despite a shortage of material, some flags and bunting appeared in parts of the town. The Lighthouse was “dressed”, as were a couple of trawlers in the harbour. A large crowd attended a bonfire in the South Bay. When fireworks went off, it was the first time that local children had experienced this since Guy Fawkes Night 1938. The most common form of celebration in the town was the organisation of local street parties for children. After the long sacrifices of wartime, adults strove to provide scarce treats to the town’s children; ice-cream, jelly, jam tarts, cakes, fruit. The occasion was invariably accompanied by children’s games and singsongs. Yet, overall, the mood of the day was surprisingly muted. The local paper described it as “calm and peaceful”, and far removed from the “mafficking”, or patriotic revelry, that had occurred at the end of World War One. It had, after all, been obvious for quite a while that the war in Europe was coming to an end, whilst V.E. Day itself was called at very short notice. The war in Japan, moreover, was still to be won. In a final dignified public display the following Sunday, 3,000 members of the armed forces marched to the railway station to join a thanksgiving service.
The picture below is of the V.E.Party in May 1945 held on Ebenezer Place, Longwestgate, just opposite to where I was born at 43 Longwestgate on 18th April 1944. My name is Gloria Pickering (nee Rollinson). I can name some of the people on the photograph but someone else may recognise family members? I am the baby on the right hand side in the high chair really enjoying a biscuit! 3rd girl on right bench is Maureen Ramm (now Raper) my cousin.
Behind her is Jean Peterson. Don't know the other girls. Man 3rd from end is Mr Stonehouse and the lady behind I think was Mrs Stonehouse. They lived on Ebenezer Place.
Left side bench. Boy with mask, my brother James Rollinson and next to him another brother Kenneth Rollinson. Both sadly deceased. 6th on from them is my cousin Albert Bean and next his sister Margaret Bean. Back row standing 1st Left is my mother Ivy Rollinson ( nee Megginson). 5th along is Maggie Bean (nee Megginson) and 6th is Kate Ramm (nee Megginson) Both my mothers sisters. The man in uniform was Walter Metcalfe and next to him my father Saville Rollinson. I cannot identify my brother Jack who would have been 15 yrs old at that time.
