How to celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day at home

Whilst we cannot have the street parties many had planned to mark VE Day, there are still lots of ways to celebrate which will not break social distancing rules – so you can celebrate the 75th anniversary from the comfort of your own home.

VE Day – or Victory in Europe Day – is marked on Friday 8 May and commemorates the Allies accepting the surrender of Nazi Germany in World War Two. The long-anticipated news resulted in spontaneous celebrations breaking out across the nation.

Rochdale BID – the Business Improvement District for Rochdale town centre – has put together a VE Day guide so you can still celebrate a huge moment in history whilst staying at home as part of the national effort against the coronavirus pandemic.

Paul Ambrose, BID Manager, said: “It has been truly inspirational to see communities across the country pulling together, and the Rochdale community are certainly raising their game when it comes to supporting key workers and those who are vulnerable. 

“These are no doubt difficult times for everyone but let’s hope everyone gets the opportunity to celebrate this moment in history”

Read below to see how you can celebrate the 75th anniversary of VE Day from the comfort of your own home.

 

Decorate your home in red, white and blue

To ensure your stay at home party is memorable the BID encourages you to decorate your home in red, white and blue. You can make your own special VE Day 75 ‘Great British Bunting’ to display in your window at home.

Here are all the instructions you need to get started using any paper, cereal boxes, string, ribbon, sweet wrappers, felt pens, poster paint you have or whatever you can find:

• www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4TrqYDyf4PMdLypxzyTwGDg/great-british-bunting

 

VE Day toolkits

To plan your VE Day celebrations at home, VE Day 75 and English Heritage have developed some toolkits, which include posters, dance moves and a Spotify play list for you to use:

• Plan your VE Day Party https://ve-vjday75.govuk/plan-your-ve-day-party/
• Dance for VE Day https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/ve-day

To help celebrate the day Rochdale BID is encouraging people to post photographs of their VE Day Stay at Home Parties on social media using the hashtag #RochdaleTogether or email them to:

• paul@rochdalebid.co.uk

 

Get in the mood with some 1940s themed music

Rochdale BID will be posting online live music performances by acts, so you can join in with the celebrations from your own home. Look out on the BID’s social media pages for timings of these performances:

• facebook.com/rochdaletowncentre
• twitter.com/RochdaleBID

At 9pm, The Queen will address the nation on the 75th anniversary of VE Day, on a day of thanksgiving. The monarch’s message will be followed by the national singalong of We’ll Meet Again, made famous by Dame Vera Lynn, now 103. The public are encouraged to open their doors and join in.

 

 

Get dressed up!

Have a look through your wardrobe and see what you already have that resembles clothing of the 1940s era.

For women, fashion was all about creating an hourglass silhouette with masculine details: padded shoulders, nipped in high waist tops, and A-line skirts that came down to the knee, shorter than the 1930s due to shortage on fabrics. There were lots of blue and khaki green colours used and this was the everyday shape for clothing, from suits to dresses, even trousers had a similar high waisted, wide leg shape.

For men it was all about making a man feel ‘larger than life’. WWll fabric rations didn’t stop style being desired. Many men went for military-style suits but with restrictions on clothing due to rations, jackets could not have pleated backs, metal zippers or buttons, feature raglan sleeves or have half belts, so most men kept their 1930s suits. It was seen as a sign of support for the war to be seen in your pre-war suits.

 

Nation’s toast at 3pm

The BID is encouraging everyone to undertake the ‘Nation’s Toast to the Heroes of WW2’ at 3pm, from the safety of their own home by standing up and raise a glass of refreshment of their choice and undertake the following ‘toast’ – “To those who gave so much, we thank you,” using this unique opportunity to pay tribute to the many millions at home and abroad that gave so much to ensure we all enjoy and share the freedom we have today.

 

NHS Rainbow thank you project

VE day required everybody playing their part: 75 years later we all need to play ours by staying at home to protect the NHS.

To compliment the NHS Rainbow campaign and to demonstrate how the blue light services and other agencies are working together to help protect and support the NHS, we are encouraging communities to email a copy of their NHS Rainbow posters to the BID.  Each poster will be transferred onto a giant thankyou mosaic poster which will be displayed permanently within the Wheatsheaf Shopping Centre.

The mosaic poster will also be showcased on the Rochdale BID website and social media channels so make sure you take a photograph of your NHS Rainbow poster and e-mail it to:

• paul@rochdalebid.co.uk

If you need to print off a NHS rainbow poster, please click here:

• www.twinkl.co.uk/resource/nhs-rainbow-window-poster-t-tp-2549682

 

VE Day Stay at Home Party

Huge nationwide plans had been drawn up to mark the anniversary of Victory in Europe day at the end of World War Two – but they have had to be scrapped because of the coronavirus lockdown.

Now people across the country are being urged to host a ‘stay at home party’ on 8 May – and to celebrate the date with a socially distanced party!

Please see below information on how you can celebrate this special event.

Food and Drink Delivery Services

The BID has teamed up with two of Rochdale’s town centre food businesses, The Flying Horse and Vicolo Del Vino, to offer the following home delivery services which will ensure you can celebrate in style:

Flying Horse

Special Afternoon Tea Platters: £20 for two persons or £35 for four persons

Choose from any four:

• savoury cheese
• egg mayonnaise
• hummus and red pepper
• tuna and sweetcorn
• cajun chicken
• beef and cream horseradish
   
• individual sweets
• pickles and pies
• scones with cream and jam 

Grazing Platter: £35 for 3/4 people

• selection of cheeses
• house cooked meats
• quality cured meats and sausage
• fresh breads
• dips and oils
• chef's own chutneys
• olives and crudités 

To order your special platters, please contact The Flying Horse via their Facebook or Twitter pages or email:

• www.facebook.com/FlyerRochdale/
• twitter.com/FlyerRochdale
• ben@theflyinghorsehotel.co.uk or enquiries@theflyinghorsehotel.co.uk

Vicolo Del Vino

The town centre wine bar is offering a special wine delivery service.

The wine box will comprise a selection of red and white wines (mix and match reds, whites or rosé).

£40 for 6 bottles

To order your wine, please contact Vicolo Del Vino through their Facebook page:

• www.facebook.com/Vicolodelvino/

 

VE Day recipes

People wouldn’t have been celebrating with the party food of today. War-time rationing meant sugar, butter and meat were hard to come by, so sweets, chocolate and traditional cakes were unlikely.

Here’s some of the popular foods eaten during World War Two and the sort of dishes that featured in VE Day celebrations.

Dripping sandwiches

You know when you cook roast beef and the pan ends up with a solid layer of white and brown sludge if you leave it to cool? That’s dripping. Yum. Sandwiches were the main order of the day during the VE Day street party celebrations, as was beer (until it ran out early in the pubs, well before the 10.30pm curfew).

Lord Woolton Pie

First created at the Savoy Hotel in London, this was one of the most widely cooked dishes during the war, consisting of diced potatoes and vegetables with a potato or pastry topping.

Pork faggots with onion gravy and mash

Offal was commonly found in wartime dishes. Faggots were meatballs made of offal and off-cuts, wrapped in fat and fried. Mash and gravy were a must-have accompaniment. All meat was scarce and therefore a luxury, so it would have been saved for special occasions.

To help celebrate the day Rochdale BID is encouraging people to post photographs of their VE Day recipes on social media using the hashtag #RochdaleTogether or email them to:

• paul@rochdalebid.co.uk