On 8th May 81 of our u3a members celebrated the 80th anniversary of VE day at our General Assembly. The hall was bedecked with red, white and blue bunting, decorations and flowers, the tables were adorned with red and white plants, fine bone china cups, a table quiz about WW2 and copies of black and white photos from the era.
Bill White entertained us all pre-meeting with a lovely selection of war-time songs and there was a wonderful atmosphere in the room from the start. Bill also kindly shared personal family anecdotes about the War and showed us some special family wartime treasures.
Members fully embraced the theme with most people dressed in red, white and blue and there were some fabulous outfits on display. Sue Holley, Carol Lockhart and Brigid and John Redmond deservedly won prizes for their efforts.
Home made jam tarts and scones, jam and cream were enjoyed by us all, Margaret Staines sang a beautiful solo of White Cliffs of Dover which led into some rousing singing by everyone, with four old favourites from the War and lots of flag waving.
We were very fortunate to have a superb presentation by Angela Chantry which detailed what happened on VE Day and in the three months between VE Day and VJ Day, victory in Japan day on 15th August 1945.
The second part of her talk covered the 20 years post the end of the War and the social and economic issues of the time.
And finally Angela introduced us to John Hemingway, the last of the Battle of Britain pilots, who sadly passed away in March of this year aged 105.
Churchill made a broadcast to the nation which we listened to at the GA announcing that Germany had surrendered. A public holiday was declared and people partied for two days with huge crowds gathering to see King George V1 and Queen Elizabeth and Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret make four appearances on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. The Princesses partied amongst the public, I suspect a first such event.
Japan had entered the war, seeking to quickly weaken US naval strength and capture strategically vital oil supplies, but also due to a desire for territorial expansion and a growing sense of national ambition. It sought to establish itself as a dominant power in Asia and it needed resources like oil and other materials to fuel its war machine and industrial growth.
Following the attack on Pearl harbour by the Japanese the US gave Japan the opportunity to surrender or face ¨prompt and utter destruction¨. Receiving no response the US dropped the atom bomb on Hiroshima. The USSR then declared war on Japan and Japan surrendered on 9th August 1945, with WW2 finally ending on 15th August.
Britain was victorious but bankrupt and accepted a loan from the US of 3.75 billion dollars at an interest rate of 2% in 1946, enabling our economy to keep afloat. Canada, also loaned us 1.9 billion US dollars and both were finally repaid in 2006.
Housing was a major issue and 750,000 new homes were needed. Between 1945-1955 one million new homes were built and 32 new towns were created including Stevenage, Hemel Hempstead and Milton Keynes.
The Labor Government identified five key issues: squalor, ignorance, want, idleness and disease and in 1945 created the NHS to provide care from cradle to grave. They also nationalised major industries.
During the war women were encouraged to work to help the war effort and after the war they began to enter the workplace. Nevertheless, attitudes were slow to change and many men still believed that womens’ rightful place was in the home!
Ration books existed until 1954 in the UK.
Between 1948-1871 the Windrush Generation was established in Britain with people from the Caribbean being enticed to work here to cover post-war labour shortages.
The 1950s saw the Teddy Boy era, the first youth movement of post-war Britain, and the introduction of rock and roll. In the US Elvis Presley became an icon and The Beatles stormed the UK.
John Hemingway was ¨the last of the few¨, the last of the RAF pilots who fought in the Battle of Britain.
Born in 1919, he joined the RAF in 1938, flew up to five sorties daily and was shot down and bailed out on no less than four occasions. He was considered a legend in aviation history by many and became known as one of the few following a speech by Winston Churchill on 20th August 1940. But he never saw his role in the Battle of Britain as anything other than doing the job he was trained to do.
We saw amazing footage and photographs of John and his colleagues and listened to a very moving song written about him. We are hoping to get a link to this song so everyone can hear it. Ironically, he claimed not to be a hero, but I dispute that.
In 1980 his hurricane aircraft was discovered in UK marshland and finally dug out in 2019 and rebuilt. Sadly he passed away on 17th March of this year aged 105.
A truly wonderful presentation by Angela which was informative and interesting, moving and humbling, and totally fitted our event.
Thank you to everyone for your very kind feedback on the Assembly which members seemed to thoroughly enjoy. Here are a few of the lovely comments we have received:
"Without doubt the best u3a meeting I´have ever attended. Well done to all those involved."
"Loved it, awesome job."
"It was a brilliant morning, thank you everyone."
"An amazing morning."
"Absolutely brilliant morning. Very emotional and thought provoking. So many memories shared by many of us olduns! Great scones too, Marian. Big thanks to all the committee and volunteers for al your hard work in creating such a special celebration."
"Thank you! Super celebrations."
"It was a truly brilliant morning. How lucky are we to have such a full and active u3a. I´m sure they can´t all be so fabulous."
"Such a lovely morning with such amazing people. I feel blessed to be part of this group! So good to see everyone dressed up and those contributing their time and effort, a very moving morning."
"Thanks, it was wonderful."
"Well done everyone."
"It looks absolutely smashing. Well don everyone."
"It looks fantastic. What a great effort."
Thank you to everyone who attended and everyone who helped to make it so special.