South commemorates VE Day

Summary

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
BBC South Today came live from a street party in Witney at 18:30 BST
Strictly star reveals how to "dance like your gran" with the Lindy Hop
"We sang and laughed on VE Day in Trafalgar Square," centenarian from Oxfordshire tells the BBC
Stack of World War Two letters between teen lovers found in junk shop
"You've survived, the war's over," Spitfire pilot from Reading told
Some pilots had "never sat in a plane" before training, Berkshire Museum of Aviation says

Live Reporting

Edited by Sue Paz, written by Nathan Briant, Charlotte Andrews & Stephen Stafford

Caversham listened to the worldpublished at 14:38 British Summer Time
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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.
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The news of Adolf Hitler's death was first heard in the building
Woollen commemorations in the southpublished at 14:36 British Summer Time
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 Knight
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This topper recognised the armed forces' contributions
Image source, Stacy Knight
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Another postbox topper recognises the contribution of Sir Winston Churchill
MP disappointed over town's lack of VE Day eventpublished at 14:25 British Summer Time
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."
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Neil Duncan-Jordan said there should be a council-led event in Poole
D-Day began the journey to victorypublished at 14:14 British Summer Time
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.
In pictures: Southampton at warpublished at 14:12 British Summer Time
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 Images
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More than 600 people died and many of Southampton's buildings were destroyed during waves of bombing raids by the Luftwaffe
Image source, Getty Images
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Spitfires were made at Supermarine's factory in Woolston until September 1940
Image source, Getty Images
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Children were evacuated from Southampton because of the fear of air raids
Image source, Getty Images
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Prime Minister Winston Churchill inspects members of an Air Raid Precautions (ARP) rescue squad during a visit to Southampton in January 1941.
Island villagers come together to remember those lostpublished at 13:54 British Summer Time
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 Council
Image caption,
Villagers in Bembridge marked the 80th anniversary on Thursday
Knitting groups mark VE Day anniversarypublished at 13:48 British Summer Time
In Weymouth, local knitting groups have placed woollen decorations over bollards to mark the roles played by the armed forces during World War Two.
A number of events will take place in the town, external as it celebrates the end of World War Two in Europe 80 years ago.
Image source, Weymouth Town Council
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The special creations have been displayed to mark the anniversary
Image source, Weymouth Town Council
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Several events will be held in Weymouth to mark VE Day
Some pilots had 'never sat in a plane' before trainingpublished at 13:41 British Summer Time
Ken Fostekew is the curator of the Berkshire Museum of Aviation and said the former Woodley Aerodrome, which is based at the site, was critical to the war effort as a training base.
"It was very important because some of these guys had never sat in an aeroplane, let alone flown one," he told BBC Radio Berkshire's Kirsten O'Brien.
"They joined the Royal Air Force and that's what they did."
A yellow Miles Magister plane is one of the museum's exhibits and about 1,000 of them were created in Woodley during the war.
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The Museum of Berkshire Aviation is on the former site of Woodley Aerodrome.
Strictly star reveals how to 'dance like your gran' for VE Daypublished at 13:31 British Summer Time
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Strictly pro Kai Widdrington teaches BBC presenters to Lindy Hop
Across the country, people celebrated the end of the war on 8 May 1945 by singing and dancing in the streets.
The Lindy Hop was the dance trend at the time, with moves inspired by jazz, tap and the Charleston.
Originating in the late 1920s in New York City, the craze was introduced to the UK by American soldiers during the war.
Strictly Come Dancing professional Kai Widdrington, from Southampton, has been teaching the steps to BBC South Today presenter Edward Sault and BBC Radio Oxford's Sophie Law.
In pictures: Oxford at warpublished at 13:22 British Summer Time
Although Oxford was spared bombing by the Nazis - it was said this was because Hitler wanted it for his capital after an invasion - life in the city and university colleges was transformed during World War Two.
Image source, Getty Images
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An RAF Glider Training School near Oxford with officers of the Glider Regiment of the Army Air Corps being trained to pilot troop-carrying gliders
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Children from London were evacuated to Oxford to protect them from Luftwaffe bombing raids on the capital
Image source, Getty Images
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Although Oxford was spared bombing by the Luftwaffe, university students still had to carry out Air Raid Precautions (ARP) patrols
Image source, Getty Images
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The Oxford Institute of Agricultural Engineering near Oxford was part of the efforts to "Dig for Victory" with the The Women's Land Army established to boost domestic food production
Image source, Getty Images
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Convalescing wounded soldiers during a riverboat trip down the River Thames at Oxford in 1941
Stack of WW2 letters between teen lovers found in junk shoppublished at 13:14 British Summer Time
A collection of letters between a World War Two soldier and his sweetheart have been uncovered in a "junk shop".
The young couple, John Quick and Ellen Melita Lamb, met each other on the corner of St Paul's Road in Portsmouth in late 1938, shortly before the war began.
After he was enlisted in the Army, Ellen wrote to her boyfriend: "Think of all the lovely, silly things we can do when the war is over."
John was in Italy when the war ended, and in his VE Day letter he told Ellen: "How I should love to be in England now. Darling, you must tell me all about it."
About 1,000 pieces of wartime correspondence between the lovers were discovered several decades later.
Image caption,
The handwritten letters date between 1938 and 1953
Commemorations held across the southpublished at 13:04 British Summer Time
Events are being held across the south to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
Dorchester Town Council held a commemoration with a reading from its town crier, Anthony Harrison.
He was accompanied by Dorchester's mayor, Robin Potter, and members of the town's branch of the Royal Navy Association.
The town's beacon will be lit at Salisbury Field later.
Image source, Dorchester Town Council
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Members of the Royal Navy Association attended the event in Dorchester on Thursday
The Southampton Blitzpublished at 12:49 British Summer Time
VE Day was celebrated with relief and joy at the end of the conflict in Europe, not least because World War Two had seen unprecedented losses among civilian populations.
Aerial bombing raids devastated towns and cities.
More than 43,000 civilians were thought to have been killed throughout the UK.
On the south coast, both Southampton and Portsmouth were targeted because of their key military roles.
Spitfire pilot told: 'You've survived, the war's over'published at 12:40 British Summer Time
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Bunny Grugeon, from Reading, was 19 on VE Day in 1945
A fighter pilot, who enlisted in the Royal Air Force before he was 18, has recalled the moment he discovered World War Two was over.
Noel Grugeon, now aged 99 and known as "Bunny", was just 19 years old on VE Day.
The Spitfire pilot, from Reading, was given the news by an air marshall at a small airfield in Germany.
"He just smiled at me and leant forward, and patted me on the shoulder," Mr Grugeon said.
"He said, 'Good luck son, you've survived, the war's over.'"
The Isle of Wight's wartime secretpublished at 12:30 British Summer Time
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How a secret piece of engineering, hidden on the Isle of Wight, fuelled Allied success
One of the reasons behind the success of D-Day and the eventual Allied victory in Europe was the remarkable technological innovations that supported the troops who landed on the Normandy beaches.
A massive bombproof pipeline - known as Pluto - went from the Isle of Wight to France to fuel the Allies' frontline as they advanced through Nazi-occupied Europe.
In pictures: World War Two in Weymouthpublished at 12:21 British Summer Time
In Dorset, seaside resorts like Weymouth lost their holiday atmosphere, with guest houses closed and barbed wire placed on beaches to prevent a potential Nazi invasion.
Weymouth became a billeting town for US and Canadian soldiers during the build-up to D-Day.
Many were part of the US 1st Division, known as the "Big Red One", who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
Several hospitals were also set up in Weymouth to receive casualties who were evacuated from Normandy.
A memorial stands on the Esplanade, dedicated to the American soldiers who embarked through Weymouth.
Image source, Getty Images
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The seaside town of Weymouth effectively became a military barracks in the run up to D-Day
Image source, Getty Images
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Weymouth became a billeting town for US and Canadian soldiers
Image source, Getty Images
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Many were part of the US 1st Division
'We sang and laughed on VE Day in Trafalgar Square'published at 12:10 British Summer Time
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Witney woman will 'never forget' being in Trafalgar Square on VE Day
A centenarian who celebrated VE Day in Trafalgar Square said she would "never forget it".
Dorothy Howard, from Witney, Oxfordshire, celebrated in the capital alongside hundreds of thousands of fellow jubilant Britons 80 years ago.
"[We] sang, shouted, screamed," Ms Howard said.
"I'll never forget it – the scenes of joy on everyone's face, laughing, we weren't laughing at anything really – it was just wonderful. Absolutely marvellous."
During the war, she had spent two years serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) - the women's branch of the British Army.
What is VE Day and why do we remember?published at 12:02 British Summer Time
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Why do we mark VE Day?
VE Day - or Victory in Europe Day - marks the day towards the end of World War Two when fighting against Nazi Germany in Europe came to an end.
UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill announced the end of the war on the radio at 15:00 BST on Tuesday 8 May 1945.
Germany had surrendered the day before and people celebrated with street parties.
Good afternoonpublished at 12:02 British Summer Time
Welcome to BBC South's live coverage as people across Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, Dorset, Oxfordshire and Berkshire commemorate VE Day 80.