Street parties celebrate VE-day

 

Photograph courtesy John Stennett

 

After five years of war, Britain was ready to celebrate when Victory in Europe was declared and the immediate reaction was to hold a street party. This was a fine example of the community spirit at its best and despite food shortages, everyone rallied round to contribute what they could from their meagre rations to provide a spread for the big occasion. Bourne joined the nation in its celebration and home owners in Alexandra Terrace gave a street party on 8th May 1945 (above) that is remembered by the older inhabitants to this day. Carnival hats were made from coloured paper for the children, there were sandwiches and home-baked cakes, and the inevitable tea urn to provide the cuppa that had sustained people on the home front for much of the war. Housewives wearing their pinafores, a traditional garment of the period, gathered for a gossip while the children soon cleared the food from the tables and the day ended with dancing and community singing, usually accompanied by a piano that had been dragged out in the street from someone's front parlour. A similar party was held in Gladstone Street (below) on the same day and the Austerby (bottom) and in other streets around Bourne although the war was still not over because it was to be another three months before Japan surrendered.

 

Gladstone Street

 

Photograph courtesy Ted Middleton
 

Private celebration

Also in Gladstone Street, Bourne, the Manthorpe children, Pauline, John and Morris, celebrated alone with their neighbour, Mrs Burgess, who set out a table in the back garden for them. They had unfortunately been quarantined because their mother had been taken to a sanatorium with suspected diphtheria and she did not wish them to miss out on the celebrations

 

Go to:     Main Index    Villages Index