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VE DAY...66 years today

Yes, we had a hole scorched in the road, but not the privet hedges as the five houses opposite had been flattened by a bomb to form our favourite playground! :-)
 
Living on Wilton St. (Lozells) at the time with my parents and three brothers, I clearly remember a Street Party to celebrate the occasion. I was 5 at the time and proudly joined in the festivities bedecked in an outfit made of small Union Jacks my mother had scrounged from somewhere. It was all fun to me, obviously not fully comprehending the full significance of the celebration. Maybe if I had looked hard at all the adults there I would have seen expressions of happiness, and more importantly, complete relief.
 
Memories io that day are of a street party with the kind of foods many had not seen for some while. I have heard it said that many women, knowing that this sort of event was likely to come sooner rather than later. secreted some rare specialities away for the occasion.

Games, races and dancing seemed to be the order of the day: the only thing missing from the great day was, for many children, their fathers. It was in my case. I had to wait until the end of 1946 (after another party for VJ day) to see him.
 
I lived in Hamstead with an aunt during the war and she was the organiser of our street party, my memory is of Dolly Mixtures. I don't know where the women got them but they were the hit of the day. We had a bonfire that was built next to the air raid shelter, after which we had a family party and we did the conga out of the back door, round the houses and in the front door.
 
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