Commemorations are taking place across the south of England to mark 80 years since Victory in Europe (VE) Day, from remembrance ceremonies to woolly postbox toppers
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Actor and the deputy lieutenant of Dorset, Martin Clunes, commemorated VE Day in Ferndown.
He attended an afternoon tea, which had sold out, as a special guest and Ferndown Town Council said “his presence made the event even more memorable”.
Image source, Ferndown Town CouncilMartin Clunes and Ferndown's mayor Terry Cordery attended the event on Thursday
As part of BBC programmes on VE night in 1945, BBC reporter Ralph Wightman recorded a toast to victory at a pub in Piddletrenthide, Dorset.
BBC programming on the day also included on-the-spot commentary from reporters among the crowds outside Buckingham Palace and in Piccadilly Circus in London.
BBC reporter Ralph Wightman (left) joined Dorset drinkers celebrating victory
Reading Library has shared pictures of parties held on VE Day in 1945, showing how communities came together to celebrate the end of World War Two.
Reading Borough Council will hold a civil service of remembrance and commemoration at Reading Minster from 19:00 BST.
Image source, Reading Borough CouncilResidents in Eldon Street in Reading held a special celebration 80 years ago today
Image source, Reading Borough CouncilAnother party was held by residents in Norcot Road, with some in fancy dress for the occasion
Join South Today presenter Ed Sault on BBC One at 18:30 BST for the sights and sounds of VE Day celebrations in Witney, Oxfordshire.
As the home of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth was on a war footing from the outbreak of the conflict in 1939.
It suffered massive damage from Luftwaffe air raids and was key in the planning and execution of the D-Day invasion of Normandy.
Image source, Getty ImagesPortsmouth was a prime target for the Luftwaffe and the city suffered waves of air raids
Image source, Getty ImagesPortsmouth Guildhall was bombed on 10 January 1941 - extensive damage was caused by a fire which burned for 12 hours
Image source, Getty ImagesThe air raids killed 930 people in Portsmouth - 25 were buried in a shared grave following a raid in January 1941
Image source, Getty ImagesNewly qualified Indian sailors leaving Stamshaw Training Camp in Portsmouth in 1942
Image source, Getty ImagesPortsmouth was one of the main embarkation points for troops leaving for the D-Day invasion in June 1944 - US landing craft were among the armada which was assembled at Portsmouth Harbour
Codebreaker Dorothy Walsh from Hayling Island was sworn to secrecy about her role
Dorothy Walsh, 98, was a codebreaker during World War Two, working to crack scrambled messages that had been intercepted from Germany.
She worked for Alan Turing, a mathematician who built a computer called a Bombe that helped decipher top secret messages that had been deliberately muddled by an Enigma machine.
Speaking to BBC Radio Solent from VE Day 80 celebrations on Hayling Island, Hampshire, she recalled spending her 18th birthday cracking codes.
"I knew it was important but no more than anyone else," she said.
By VE Day, she said she had already been dismantling the Bombes because they had stopped receiving codes the week before.
"We knew [the war] was over but we couldn't say anything," she said.
Ms Walsh said she celebrated the end of the war by doing the Conga in the street with a crowd of American soldiers.
Reading Museum historian Mike Cooper said it was still not known why the town was targeted
If you stand outside Reading Town Hall's entrance, you'll see damage on the doorway from a bomb that was dropped there.
It was one of four bombs that targeted the Berkshire town at teatime on 10 February 1943, in what became known as Reading's only fatal air raid.
Another bomb demolished a building in Market Arcade on Friar Street, which housed a restaurant called the People’s Pantry.
It killed 29 of the 41 people who perished that day, according to Reading Museum historian Mike Cooper.
The estate and village was commandeered as a tank firing range in 1943, with its 225 inhabitants told to leave
For the residents of the Dorset village of Tyneham, the celebrations on VE Day must have been a bittersweet moment.
The estate and village, nestled near Worbarrow Bay, had been commandeered as a tank firing range in 1943, with its 225 inhabitants told to leave their homes.
"Thank you for treating the village kindly," read a note pinned to Tyneham's church door as the final inhabitants hurriedly left.
They never returned.
After eight decades, the roofless shells of a post office, farmhouses, a rectory and cottages offer passing curious walkers and visitors a glimpse of the life of a long-departed community.
Image source, Alton LibraryAlton Library has been celebrating the "voices of VE Day" recorded five years ago
Alton Library has been celebrating the "voices of VE Day".
The Army Benevolent Fund, the soldiers’ charity, did a podcast with a group of people sharing their memories five years ago for the 75th anniversary.
These are some excerpts:
“We were so lucky. Well, it wasn’t luck; it was fortitude, it was hard work, it was devotion, it was commitment to the country, it was patriotism, it was all pulling together – it will never be forgotten," said Baroness Boothroyd of Sandwell.
“I saw thousands of Germans surrendering – an incredible sight," said Geoffrey Winter, who was 98.
Jack Swaab, who was 102, said: “There was an overriding sense of relief. It was just nice not to be shot at.”
A well-attended commemoration was held in Newbury on Thursday.
The town’s mayor, Andy Moore, said it was important that World War Two was remembered.
“The world continues, sadly, to be an uncertain place and we need to reflect back on what happened in those days, and honour the sacrifice that people made,” he said.
He said he had spoken to his 97-year-old mother about the end of the war, who told him she recalled the “sense of relief” that people shared on VE Day.
Newbury's mayor Andy Moore was part of the town's service on Thursday
The impact of World War Two was felt in Witney after an aeroplane struck St Mary’s Church on 2 September 1942.
An RAF Miles Master plane towing a glider, in preparation for D-Day, crashed into the church’s spire, killing pilot George Couch and Victor Rodger, who were both 19. The crash damaged the church's spire and the chancel roof.
“It really did take people by surprise because we were then a sleepy rural town and suddenly the war was affecting us,” Richard Young, a licensed lay minister at the church, told the BBC's Bridgitte Tetteh.
The BBC's Bridgitte Tetteh talked to Richard Young about the impact the crash and war had on Witney
The VE Day 80 flag has been raised on the Guildhall in Lyme Regis, accompanied by official proclamation by the town crier.
The raising of the VE Day 80 flag at The Guildhall in Lyme Regis.
Following the Battle of Britain, the German Luftwaffe switched tactics to bombing British towns and cities.
The south coast was on the front line, with both Southampton and Portsmouth suffering major bombing raids.
Reading was designated a "safe town" and became home to thousands of evacuee children, fleeing the blitz in London.
Nevertheless, it was the target of devastating air raids.
Forty one people died in one bomb and machine gun attack in February 1943.
Later in the war, RAF Greenham Common saw airborne troops leave for Normandy as the D-Day invasion was launched.
Image source, Getty ImagesMembers of Slough's Women's Home Guard were trained to react to a potential Nazi invasion
Image source, Getty ImagesAn air raid on Reading on 10 February 1943 killed 41 people and injured 150
Image source, Getty ImagesThousands of children were evacuated on the Great Western Railway and stayed with families in rural Berkshire to escape the air raids on London
Image source, Getty ImagesA photograph of General Dwight D Eisenhower meeting men at Greenham Common airfield, their faces covered in camouflage cream on the eve of D-Day, is one of the most famous images of the invasion
More than 1,000 people worked in the building, near Reading
From 1943, Caversham Park in Berkshire played a key role in World War Two as the headquarters of BBC Monitoring.
More than 1,000 people worked in the building, near Reading, listening in to radio broadcasts from across Europe.
BBC Monitoring transcribed and summarised 240 broadcasts into an 80,000-word document called the daily digest, which was swiftly delivered to London by war despatch drivers.
The news of Adolf Hitler's death was first heard in the building from monitoring German state radio on the evening on 1 May 1945.
Read more about the BBC at War.
The news of Adolf Hitler's death was first heard in the building
Woollen postbox toppers marking the efforts of people across the south during World War Two have been spotted in the region.
Stacy Knight shared pictures of the toppers in Gillingham, Dorset, which she photographed on Thursday.
Image source, Stacy KnightThis topper recognised the armed forces' contributions
Image source, Stacy KnightAnother postbox topper recognises the contribution of Sir Winston Churchill
Poole's MP has reiterated his disappointment that a council is not holding a VE Day event in his town.
Neil Duncan-Jordan said last month that veterans wanted to see an event in Poole to mark its role in D-Day.
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council is holding a beacon lighting in Bournemouth on Thursday to mark the 80th anniversary of World War Two ending in Europe.
This morning Labour MP told BBC Radio Solent there was "genuine disappointment" that no commemoration was taking place in his town.
In April, the council's cabinet member for culture, Andy Martin, said it was "proud" of Poole's history and had worked to enable VE Day street parties across its area.
But Carol Evans, a former mayor of Poole and former member of the Women's Royal Naval Service, said she was "ashamed" by the council's alleged "lack of interest".
She said: "BCP [Council] should remember that Poole has a long maritime history.
"The harbour was the third largest embarkation point for the Overlord operation prior to D-Day in 1944.
"The RNLI also played a vital role in saving lives during the landings."
Neil Duncan-Jordan said there should be a council-led event in Poole
Eleven months before victory in Europe was declared, Allied forces embarked on the biggest seaborne invasion in history.
The D-Day landings on the Normandy beaches in June 1944 were the start of the campaign to liberate mainland Europe from Nazi occupation.
Read more about D-Day as it happened.
Southampton played a key role during World War Two.
Designed by R.J Mitchell, the Supermarine Spitfire became the dominant fighter aircraft of the war.
More than 8,000 were built in the city, with assembly moved to converted laundries, garages and workshops when the Supermarine factory in Woolston was bombed.
The town was bombed extensively, external by the Luftwaffe, with the heaviest raids taking place on 30 November and 1 December 1940.
A total of 630 Southampton residents lost their lives.
Later in the war, Southampton was an important embarkation site for troops bound for Normandy with Eastern Docks used for docking larger ships.
Thousands of soldiers were camped on Southampton Common before the D-Day invasion.
Image source, Getty ImagesMore than 600 people died and many of Southampton's buildings were destroyed during waves of bombing raids by the Luftwaffe
Image source, Getty ImagesSpitfires were made at Supermarine's factory in Woolston until September 1940
Image source, Getty ImagesChildren were evacuated from Southampton because of the fear of air raids
Image source, Getty ImagesPrime Minister Winston Churchill inspects members of an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) rescue squad during a visit to Southampton in January 1941.
On the Isle of Wight, a special VE Day 80 flag was raised in Bembridge's War Memorial Gardens during a ceremony.
The names of those from the village who were killed during the war were also read out.
A party will be held in its village hall on Thursday and a service will be held at Holy Trinity Church from 18:30 BST, with another commemoration at the war memorial from 21:00.
Image source, Bembridge Parish CouncilVillagers in Bembridge marked the 80th anniversary on Thursday