VE Day and VJ Day in Leicester

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80 years ago, people in Leicester marked the end of the Second World War with a conga round the Clock Tower – and now plans are taking shape to commemorate the 80^th anniversaries of VE Day and VJ Day in style.

Vintage music, bunting and bell-ringing will mark both anniversaries, which take place on Thursday 8 May for VE Day and Friday 15 August for VJ Day.

The celebrations will be centred around Town Hall, with bunting, flags, floral tributes and a commemorative book available for people to record their personal thanks to the men and women who served in the war. Vera Lynn’s wartime classic ‘We’ll Meet Again’ and other well-known tunes from the 1940s will fill the square.

Leicester Cathedral will also be marking both anniversaries with commemorative evening services, which will be open to the public and attended by the Lord Mayor, the Lord-Lieutenant of Leicestershire, and other civic dignitaries. Bell-ringing will follow the services.

Leicester’s libraries and museums will also be getting involved by showcasing resources, memories and objects relating to the 1940s wartime era and celebrations of peace. In May, Leicester Museum & Art Gallery will feature works by Charles Ginner, an official war artist who specialised in painting harbour scenes and bombed buildings in London. And in August, the hugely popular Popping to the Shops exhibition will feature as its ‘object of the month’ an extremely rare poster for a VJ concert in November 1945, delayed on purpose so that servicemen returning from the Far East could attend.

There will of course be street parties held by communities around the city and county and the city council simply ask if you can fill in a simple online form to tell them where and when you plan to hold the event. Organising small, private street parties and fetes is very simple and generally there is no charge.