Woman amazed at seeing father on VE Day stamp

The stamp shows Roger Axworthy as a young man waving a flag, circled left, along with his brother Brian, circled right

A woman was "thrilled" to see her father featured on a stamp released to mark the end of World War Two in Europe.

Belinda Shears, 61, from Plymouth, only realised her father Roger Axworthy was on one of the VE Day stamps when she saw it in a newspaper.

The stamp shows a serviceman's homecoming in Oreston, Plymouth in 1945, with Mr Axworthy waving a flag.

Mrs Shears said seeing it was a "bit of sunshine in these awful times".

Roger Axworthy, featured in the VE Day stamp, was a stamp collector

The picture of the returning serviceman in Oreston Road was well-known to the family beforehand and has been widely used in newspapers and magazines.

As well as her father - who died in 2006 aged 73 - it also features Mrs Shears' uncle and a tiny glimpse of her aunt.

"When I saw the newspaper I thought "Oh my God, it's Dad and there was Uncle Brian and Aunty Tina as well," said Mrs Shears.

"My father was also a stamp collector, so it's amazing that he is going on a stamp.

"It's fantastic and it's such a good photo."

Laurence Axworthy, Roger's younger brother, has made a series of public talks inspired by the homecoming photo

Her sister Fiona Yelland, from Ashford, Kent, said: "Hearing that this image is being released as a stamp has really cheered us up."

The photo has been so much a part of the family's history that Mr Axworthy's younger brother Laurence has based public talks about World War Two around it.

Mr Axworthy, from Yelverton, near Plymouth, said: "I know the picture intimately. It inspired me to talk about the bombing of Plymouth."

The road in Oreston today shows the same house in the background

The new set of stamps is being issued to mark the 75th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day, which was on 8 May 1945 and marked the end of World War Two in Europe that came with the surrender of Germany.

Another stamp in the collection features an image of the Plymouth Naval Memorial on the Hoe.

Philip Parker of Royal Mail said: "Our new stamps capture how the end of the war was greeted and the resulting return of service personnel after nearly six long years of conflict.

"We also pay tribute to those who never returned, and the victims of the Holocaust."