Hundredds of people gathered in Redcar at a moving yet joyful 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day ceremony earlier today.
The Royal British Legion-led parade and ceremony was just one event in a packed day of activities commemorating those who gave so much for freedom, both military and civilians.
Standard Bearers marched from Coatham Boating Lake to Redcar Beacon on the seafront where hundreds of residents and schoolchildren has assembled.
Mayor of Redcar and Cleveland, Cllr Neil Bendelow, spoke of the sacrifices made by ordinary people. It was a theme picked up by Rev Rebecca Haughty who spoke of, “the people of Redcar who kept the furnaces burning while worried for loved ones but who never gave up the capacity for hope.” She added that people felt joy at the first VE Day but there was also sadness as they remembered those lost.
Lord Lieutenant Trevor Watson echoed those sentiments but also focused on the future and the need for leaders and nations to focus on peace.
Redcar Royal British Legion Honorary President, Eric Howden BEM, read a poem by Angela Whybrow which talked of the fun side of VE Day with dancing, the lights being turned back on rock cakes and puddings at a time of rationing. And yet the poem also included the lines: ‘The war had raged on for almost six years, And, during that time, it had caused terror and tears; It was a day of thanksgiving; a day of relief, But, for some, just another day of deep rooted grief.”
Prayers were said and the Last Post sounded. People started to dispersed, the reflective mood again turning upbeat while Redcar Community Choir sang the familiar songs of the past. Joy and sadness as the momentous VE Day was remembered.
More events will take place this evening. Church bells will ring out across the borough from 6.30pm and a major event will take place at a Ceremony of Lights at Coatham Boating Lake from 8pm. See much more below.
6.30pm: Together We Chime – Let the Nation’s Bells Ring Loud. Church bells ring out across the borough.
8pm: Ceremony of light at Coatham Boating Lake on Redcar seafront.
- 8.15pm: Boating Lake bridge lit up and decorated with 2 x 6ft ‘Tommies’, poppy drape, spotlights and smoke machine. Please feel free to bring a lamp, torch, candle or similar. (NB: lake will be dry for this event).
- 8.30pm: Entertainment by George Robinson - Redcar’s crooner.
- 9pm: Music from the Redcar Community Choir.
- 9.30pm: Everyone invited to join in with the national singing of I Vow to Thee my Country followed by Give me Oil in my Lamp and the national anthem. A ‘peace lamp’ will be lit with the flame representing the ‘light of peace’ emerging from the darkness of war. More than 200 candle tealights will be lit - each one with the name of one of the WW2 casualties listed on the Redcar cenotaph and also the 15 civilians sadly killed when the Zetland Club, Redcar, was bombed in October 1941 and the civilians lost when the Redcar Iron & Steel Works at Warrenby were bombed in November 1941 and January 1942.
9.30pm: Lighting the Beacons with Flames of Peace - A Global Tribute. Light up of the beacons at Birk Brow Bank near Guisborough and Danby, courtesy of Cleveland Fire Brigade.