VICTORY IN EUROPE - 80th ANNIVERSARY SERVICES
On Thursday 8th May a short service took place in the churchyard, with two minutes silence observed at 11:00am, and the laying of a poppy wreath at the war memorial.
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The evensong service on Sunday 4th May included special music and readings to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the war.
The violin soloist was choir-member:Georges Wright.
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Photos by Nick Reynolds, Click to enlarge
As we celebrate the 80th Anniversary of VE Day this month, I look back to the actual day when I was a boy of seven and a half years. My mother, brother and I were staying with my auntie, uncle and three cousins in Alvestoke near Gosport. Although we were celebrating the
end of World War II in Europe, it was a sad time as my father was not with us. He had been killed two years earlier in the North Africa battles, and is buried in Beja War Cemetery, in Tunisia. Uncle was in charge of the VE day celebrations in Alvestoke. I remember helping him and other local people build a huge bonfire, in the middle of the road at a T-junction. One big tree trunk was fixed upright in the middle, and all the other timbers leant against it. Everyone helped for several days beforehand bringing wood to burn. The following morning there was a big hole in the tarmac! VE day was the first time I had seen fireworks. I remember catherine wheels on a fence, which appeared to me to be the size of bicycle wheels. I was very excited and impressed. We had numerous trestle tables laden with sandwiches, cakes, jellies and blancmange which people had pooled their coupons for. The celebrations went on well into the night.
Richard Healey
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