VE Day with Ian Scott

Today marks VE Day, 75 years since Victory in Europe and the end of the Second World War. We have a wonderfully poignant podcast from local historian Ian Scott.

You can download the podcast on Soundcloud here.

We are unable to provide BSL translation sadly but we have made a transcript for our deaf centre users. We hope this helps.

Transcript below.

It doesn't seem like any time since I was in the sensory center. Talking to the history group about the folk at Falkirk War Memorial project yet, here we are all locked down in their houses, hoping and praying that the virus will pass and we can all get back to meeting up again.

As the queen reminded us in a speech, we'll meet again. And she wasn't the only one to link the Covid crisis to the spirit of the second world war. Quite a few folk have talked about the grit and determination of those tough years and the ones that help the country survive. Of course, this week has a special echoes of these times. The eighth of May is the 75th anniversary of the end of the war in Europe. VE Day, when the German surrender was signed and nearly six years of hostilities came to an end from the start of May. Everybody in the country was expecting the news about VE Day. At the time Hitler had died in his bunker, on the 30th of April, and the allies had moved into Berlin and had taken over everywhere. All across the continent, German soldiers were laying down their arms and, back at home, the authorities, the local authorities, the council in Falkirk for example, were told to prepare for the announcement.

There was going to be a two day holiday which would a double celebration, VE Day and VE Day plus one, and people were told to get their celebrations organized over the weekend. Families all crowded around the radios or wireless as it was, until on the evening of the seventh, which was a Monday night, the news came the following day was set as VE Day and overnight out came the flags and the buntings and know that a few drams were drunk as well. In Falkirk, things were complicated by the fact that the Monday was already a spring holiday. And so the people would have to face the prospect of three full days of shops and things being shut. However, the order was issued that the shops should stay open each day to keep the bairns well fed.

On the morning of the great day, it was all wet and miserable, but it didn't stop crowds of people gathering in the towns and villages all over the district of Falkirk. The authorities set up loudspeakers at the steeple and the crowds were able to listen to Winston Churchill's famous speech at three o'clock. Later on there was a message to from the King. The crowds began to swell in the afternoon and the man from The Herald said there was a scene of restrained rejoicing. He called it, restrained of course, because there were still many men and women from the district still fighting in the far East and it wouldn't be till August that the hostilities there came to an end. Many families, of course had already lost loved ones in our area, over a thousand men and women had died in the war and they would not be returning to their homes.

So, the enjoyment of VE Day was certainly twinged with the suffering that the families had gone through. However, there was certainly rejoicing without a doubt. The steeple bell rang out all through the day and the churches were doing the same. Alexander's bus company pipe band marched up the high street, followed by a big happy crowd. One person said that the band had been led by one lad who had had too much to drink, obviously a man who appointed himself the kind of leader of the band and danced his way all the way up from the bus station to the steeple behind and in front of the band. One man remembered that the drunk joined a trio of drunks singing from the heart. In the shadow of the steeple, what it sounded like, we can only guess, but he was maybe a bit overcritical when he said that their voices accord ill with the music of the peace bells.

In the evening, the streetlights blazed out and the Butler buildings in Newmarket Street was floodlit. The crowds danced and sang. About 5,000 people attended a VE Day dance in the ice rink. Children were building bonfires and some had effigies of Hitler and Goering sitting on the top. Down in Grangemouth, most of the big bonfire was made of blackout screens, which thankfully were no longer required. Church services were held across the district of course. On the VE Day plus one ,there was a big drum head service in Brockville park, attended by a huge crowd of people, including the municipal leaders and military people and the like. When the weekend came, the churches, once again had big Thanksgiving services, very well attended, of course, as you would expect. By then of course the people are back at work and getting ready for the return of the loved ones and the complete end of the war, which came about in the autumn. In 75 years time I day say our children and grandchildren will be looking back on Covid 19 and the celebrations that followed the end of the lockdown.

I certainly hope so.