Resources to celebrate and learn at home
A full toolkit is available here: Get involved in marking #VEDay75. This link contains online resources including tips for hosting a tea party at home, colouring, bunting and a creative challenge for children.
The Royal British Legion are hosting a VE Day 75 livestream at 11.15am, and will feature national moments of remembrance and thanksgiving, including a UK-wide singalong to Vera Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again after the Queen’s broadcast at 9pm. Find details of all of this, plus a VE Day learning pack for children aged 7-14 years at https://www.britishlegion.org.uk/get-involved/remembrance/remembrance-events/ve-day-75
Discover
To find out more about the Second World War, go to the Imperial War Museums’ website at https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/victory. A specially created ‘voices of war’ broadcast will be available on the day, as well as links to images of contemporary artistic responses to VE Day.
There’s loads of information and lots to discover on the background to VE Day itself at https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/ve-day. The VE Day 75 pack includes 1940s recipes, dance steps and even a Spotify playlist to help you plan.
The Government and Ancestry are working together to encourage the public to join in commemorating VE Day by discovering their own connection to the Second World War. As part of this, all UK historical records available on ancestry.co.uk will be free for the public from Monday 4 May until Sunday 10 May, giving people the opportunity to uncover the personal stories of the Second World War and the roles their families played.
Watch and Listen
- If it’s dance you want, have a look at this British Pathe film from 1943 giving a thorough explanation of the jive at the Hammersmith Palais! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8pXDfX2giU
- Watch a Movietone film of VE Day in London on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEavcsrMoMw
- Bletchley Park was one of the first organisations to learn of the formal surrender of Germany in the early hours of 7 May 1945, the day before VE Day was formally announced on 8 May 1945. On Friday 8 May the Bletchley Park website will host a special recording of a VE Day speech by ‘Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill’ https://bletchleypark.org.uk/blog/celebrate-ve-day-at-home-with-bletchley-park
- Historian and broadcaster Dan Snow will host history lessons for children from Monday 4 May. At 4pm on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Dan will host a History Hit live on YouTube’s Timeline channel that will focus on a different aspect of the Second World War and aim to teach the public about the importance of VE Day.
- If you’re interested in aviation history then the de Havilland Museum is a must-see. While it’s closed, museum staff are taking visitors to their social media feeds on virtual tours of some of the museum’s exhibits.