Bells ring out to mark VE Day

Britain basked in a second day of celebration yesterday to mark the 70th anniversary of VE Day.

Church and cathedral bells rang out across the country, their chiming peals a nationwide fanfare for the poignant anniversary.

The cacophony rang out from 11am just as they did to signal the end of the war.

While hostilities raged, they hung in silence, lest they be used to guide enemy bombers towards civilian targets.

The bells of St Paul’s Cathedral and Westminster Abbey rang in London, while one of the Royal Navy’s largest ships, HMS Ocean, sounded her siren in Greenwich.

In Jersey, hundreds braved the wet weather to watch a re-enactment ceremony marking the anniversary of the liberation of the island from German occupation forces.

The Queen sent greetings to the people of the Channel Islands on the day of celebration.

The monarch said she remembered well the pleasure taken by her parents on being able to visit Jersey on June 7th, 1945, one month after liberation.

She added: “On the occasion of the 70th anniversary we remember the many who suffered during the occupation of the Channel Islands, with all the hardships that went with that, including food shortages, deprivations of liberty and restrictions on everyday life.

“And we remember all those who left the island in 1940 and were unable to see their families left behind or regain their homes for the next five years, all those who left to join the service of our Armed Forces and all those who were deported to Germany.

“Today is a day for all the survivors of that generation and for the people of Jersey, young and old, to come together to give thanks for the success of the Allied forces and the liberation of the island and to pass on the spirit of reconciliation.”

Last night, a star-studded concert called VE Day 70: A Party to Remember took place at Horse Guards Parade in Whitehall, London.

Hosted by DJ Chris Evans, it featured performances influenced by the era from Katherine Jenkins, Pixie Lott, Status Quo and the stars of Strictly Come Dancing.

Today, around 1,000 veterans and their families will join members of the Royal Family, politicians, members of the Armed Forces and representatives of the Allied nations and Commonwealth countries that fought alongside Britain for a service of thanksgiving at Westminster Abbey.

A parade of bands, veterans and current servicemen and women will then make their way from the abbey along Whitehall, past the balcony where Winston Churchill made a historic speech before vast crowds, before a reception for veterans in St James’s Park hosted by the Legion, where there will also be vehicles from the 1940s.

In the afternoon, there will be a fly-past over central London by the Red Arrows, following a fly-by of aircraft that helped Britain and its Allies win the war the Lancaster bomber and Spitfire and Hurricane fighters.

Trafalgar Square will also be decked out with bunting and the ensigns of each of the Armed Forces and the Band of the Grenadier Guards will perform music from the era opposite Nelson’s Column.

Three days of festivities are being held to mark the anniversary, seven decades after the announcement that Germany had offered the unconditional surrender to the Allies that brought about the end of the war in Europe.

Meanwhile, new research has revealed young Scots are the most knowledgeable in the UK about the Second World War, while Londoners are the most ignorant.

RAF veteran David Murray, chief executive of SSAFA, said: “It is a real shame that across the UK our young people do not share the same basic level of military knowledge on the Second World War as those in Scotland.

“Many of them probably have not-too-distant relatives who fought in what was by far the biggest world war, in terms of lives lost.”

Worryingly, 38% of those polled were unable to correctly identify Winston Churchill as the British Prime Minister who famously declared Victory in Europe on the May 8th, 1945.

A stunning 7% believed it to be President Kennedy, another 7% named Margaret Thatcher and 4% said Tony Blair.

More than a third thought that the first moon landing, the fall of the Berlin Wall and Britain’s entry into the EU all happened before VE Day.