VE Day Celebrations

Staff and residents across our eight care homes marked the 80th Anniversary of VE Day with pride and enthusiasm, showing the true spirit of their generation.

The homes were decorated with red, white and blue flags, crocheted poppies and bunting and many staff members were dressed in outfits from the 40s. The resident catering teams worked their magic creating special menus for the garden and indoor street parties, with canapes, afternoon tea treats and union jack themed cakes.

Live music was a feature with plenty of 1940s favourites, dancing from guest performers and singalongs for all. Community choirs with our own talented residents also performed songs from the war era.

At The Lodge in Exeter five of our lovely residents became stars for the day, when they were filmed talking about their lives during the war. The film was presented on a big screen during the garden party and provided a real insight into all that lies behind VE Day.

Our film stars are Pam, 96, who was evacuated to Exeter from Kent, forced to return to Kent when Exeter was also bombed. Katie,100, who lived in London and was bombed out three times during the war. On VE day she walked to Buckingham Palace with her father to see The King address the crowd. Ruby, 92, who was evacuated from Birmingham to Tiverton and remembers the VE Day street party in 1945. She still has a black and white photo of the day and a silver spoon that was given to all the children to mark the occasion. Maureen, 97, who lived in the home counties and vividly remembers the celebrations and finally Dylis, 96, who lived in Bristol.

Meanwhile at Merlewood, our home in Virginia Water, celebrations were topped off by a special visit from The Mayor of Runnymede and her consorts who presented the residents with their prize for winning the best Commemorative Artwork in the Care Home category.

It was a day for all staff, residents and their families to come together to reminisce, rejoice and reflect. Thank you to everyone for making this a very special day to remember.