VE Day

[FloraDora]

So, today I am focussed on the VE Day anniversary.
I know there would have been a real reason Have our polling day when we did, but I am not happy that the VE Day anniversary was slipped in for 3seconds at 3pm on Friday, between the political agenda.

A friend who lives in France said he attended his village's VE Day service on Friday morning, it is a national day in France, it means so much to them because they were invaded. The only topic of conversation however was the concerns his French neighbours have about the referendum around the EU, they had concerns around David Cameron being voted in because of this and do not want the UK To vote to come out, interesting how the rest of the world perceives our political environment. Of course it seems that they think it is only an in or out vote, not a 'lets get what we want from Europe ' vote.

My father attended the 50th Anniversary of the liberation in Antwerp he was invited back by the city because he was a signal man on a Boat that brought electricity to the city on liberation day. The people of Antwerp had donated a fund to include him in their liberation celebrations along with a hotel full of elderly people, provided doctors on call, invited my mum too, gave them lovely gifts, banquets, it was also a bit sad with remembrance services, but my parents couldn't believe how very young people would stop and shake his hand in the street ( he had the British Legion blazer on) ...everyone knew how important that liberation was. He sat at one of the banquets with a family whose parents were key in the resistance...and lost their lives in the process....so in Certain parts of Europe VE Day is very significant in their rememberance history........
But we squeezed it in ...

[Mouse]

I'm hopeful (ever the optimist!) that the emphasis on promoting British values may make a difference to the way we celebrate, or at least acknowledge, significant events like VE Day.

In recent years we (as a nation) have been so careful to be seen as celebrating diversity and respecting other nationalities that we've almost been embarrassed to promote our own identity. Children now know a great deal about other cultures and their celebrations, but pitifully little about our own. I bet a vast number of children don't even know what the letters VE stand for, never mind what the whole day is about and why it is so significant.

[FloraDora]

I'm hopeful (ever the optimist!) that the emphasis on promoting British values may make a difference to the way we celebrate, or at least acknowledge, significant events like VE Day.

In recent years we (as a nation) have been so careful to be seen as celebrating diversity and respecting other nationalities that we've almost been embarrassed to promote our own identity. Children now know a great deal about other cultures and their celebrations, but pitifully little about our own. I bet a vast number of children don't even know what the letters VE stand for, never mind what the whole day is about and why it is so significant.

I agree.
Embarrassingly 12 years ago I took my then 12 year old to the d day landing rembrance celebrations ( dad had been invited to go by the bbc , but he needed us to take him) with his friend. The lads knew little about why we were there and found it all fascinating and really moving. His friend asked him why he didn't know about that period of history given that his grandad was ( in his mind) a celebrity. The truth is that dad didn't talk about it, like so many, Brits don't boast, especially when lives were lost, no matter whose and the trauma was so horrid that he blocked it too. When he returned after the war nobody analysed it like they are inclined to do now, but then as in now, once a group returns from a war or potential war, we don't say how great our role was, appreciate our service folk who put their lives at risk, they just get on in the UK world , not even given extras..., students get a % off in shops but not our service personnel. ...but that's another topic, we realised that we had also blocked this period, my DH is a big hobby historian as is my oldest, but he talked to our youngest more about medieval history. He knew more about Richard the Lionheart, Edward the Confessor and Henry 111 than what happened in the first and second world wars that his immediate family had been involved in!!

This adds to what you are saying about our non interest in our contribution to significant events in world history.

Interesting that Michael Gove is now going to be responsible for the British Bill of Rights replacing the Human Rights.

[loocyloo]

I'm very pleased that more notice is being taken these days about VE day and all other commemorative days, and remembrance day.

Someone at Church was saying this morning the exact same thing floradora; that the soldiers who returned/people who lived through it didn't talk about it, and as they sadly pass on, it is being remembered and talked about.