Hereford Times comment on Herefordshire's response to the 75th anniversary of VE Day

AT first sight it was a devastating blow to plans to mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day.

The coronavirus pandemic had forced the cancellation of public celebrations of Nazi Germany’s surrender to Allied forces and the end of the Second World War in Europe.

But something remarkable happened.

The lack of official events and preoccupation with concerns about the virus did not, as some feared it might, push thoughts about the anniversary from people’s minds. Quite the reverse.

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Adversity, as it so often does, appeared to draw people together.

On a bank holiday moved from Monday to Friday especially for the occasion, the sun shone brightly.

And in the warmth of a spring day in Herefordshire, deckchairs and picnic tables were pulled from garages and cupboards and set up at doorsteps and front gardens.

Red-white-and-blue bunting was pinned across windows and draped over gates.

People had not, it appeared, overlooked VE Day, or the sacrifices made by their grandparents and great-grandparents.

Perhaps, with their own liberties restricted in ways not even seen in wartime, they understood them even better.

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And so they sat in the sunshine, ate their sandwiches and cake, sipped their tea, wine, beer and gin, and raised a toast to those who had gone before.

With social distancing rules in place, they chatted with family and hailed their neighbours across the street – the same street, perhaps, that had celebrated joyously with a party in May 1945.

Yes, Herefordshire stayed at home for VE Day. But it did not, and never will, forget.