VE Day: 'The heroes of then and the heroes of today' - celebrating in lockdown

London on VE Day, 75 years ago

Seventy-five years ago, villages, towns and cities across the UK resonated to the cheers of people out on the streets, celebrating what became known as Victory in Europe (VE) day.

On Friday, the marking of this historic moment will be somewhat more subdued.

The coronavirus lockdown has put paid to plans for mass gatherings and big public celebrations.

Organisers have had to think fast on their feet about what to do instead to celebrate that momentous day.

Jenny Haslett is manager of Belfast's War Memorial Museum and has been involved in putting some of the VE Day events together.

Manager of Belfast's War Memorial Museum Jenny Haslett helped plan VE Day events

"We'd planned a huge amount of family events," she told BBC News NI.

"We had a concert planned for St Anne's Cathedral in Belfast with singer Peter Corry and we had to cancel that.

"We had street parties and family gatherings set up but due to the lockdown we had to very quickly get our heads around the fact that it wasn't going to happen.

"Then we had to think what could we still do for our audiences while working from home?"

The museum, which is located in the shadow of St Anne's in the Cathedral Quarter, has an array of war-time memorabilia and child-friendly hands-on displays in its premises.

But they will remain untouched by curious hands for now.

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In the meantime, the museum staff have been focusing their energies on creating more free learning resources online for young people to help teach them what VE Day was like 75 years ago.

Similarities will also be drawn with the situation now during the pandemic and what it was like back then.

As Jenny prepares to don her apron for an online "wartime cookery class" she explains the need to get through to people, young and old, during this period of lockdown.

Belfast's War Memorial Museum will host online cookery classes to mark VE Day

"I'm going to show them how to make carrot biscuits just like they did during the war when these were a bit of a treat.

"We are trying to get the children to engage with the celebrations but in the safety of their own homes by teaching them how to make VE Day decorations and explaining wartime recipes."

But while the children can have fun flinging flour around their parent's kitchens there is something for the older generation too.

"People can access all of this through our website by clicking on the learning tab. You can also get through on Facebook and YouTube," says Jenny.

"We are also compiling a CD which is dementia friendly and combines music with memories for those people in care homes."

Chris Wilson, who lives outside Limavady, was a schoolboy when victory in Europe was declared.

'Thank the heroes'

He remembers that day well and was looking forward to the celebrations tomorrow. He feels it is a shame they had to be scaled back.

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"I think it's sad the effect lockdown is having on this particular day but the great thing about the war years was, to use a great Ulster expression, we mucked in.

"No matter who we were, we all helped one another and that's what is happening today.

Harry McMullan broadcasts for the BBC in Belfast on VE Day, 75 years ago

"There is a great movement throughout the country of people helping people. And that is what happened during World War Two."

Jenny is keen to stress that the day will still be marked with a minutes silence at 11:00 BST and a "raise a glass" moment at 15:00 the time when Prime Minister Winston Churchill made his famous speech to the nation.

Given the extraordinary times we are currently living through, thoughts will inevitably turn to the heroes of the NHS.

A photograph from the Northern Whig newspaper of people celebrating in Northern Ireland

"There are so many similarities there with nurses and doctors working through World War Two and the doctors and nursing staff working today," Ms Haslett says.

"I think this is a time to thank the heroes of today and the heroes of 75 years ago," she adds.