THE community spirit of wartime Keynsham was revived when people gathered in the Memorial Park to celebrate the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
Thornbury Swing Band played classics from the 1940s on the bandstand during an afternoon of live music and remembrance.
The crowds also sang Happy Birthday to visitor Janet Clark, aged 91, from Hanham, who then requested a conga line through the park.
Drawing on the work of local historians Brian Vowles and Michael Fitter, town councillor Dave Biddleston read out Keynsham residents’ memories of how victory in Europe was celebrated.
For that momentous day on May 8, 1945, flags and bunting were dug out from attics and cupboards to decorate houses and shops in red, white and blue. Scarce rations were set aside for street parties, while youngsters went out collecting old furniture and scrap timber for bonfires.
Local resident Lily Harrison recalled how her brother Frank, adopting the guise of a town crier, toured the streets ringing a handbell and calling out that the war was over.
John Baker remembered trestle tables in the middle of Albert Road laid with sandwiches, cakes and jelly – “but no ice cream, as you could not get it.”
Other attendees said that a huge bonfire was lit in the middle of the road that night and scorched the surface, which later had to be replaced.
Brian Knowles recalled that after the children were reluctantly packed off to bed, the evening continued with wild enthusiasm and normally respectable townsfolk lost their inhibitions.
Accordion players struck up outside The Ship, and in the three other pubs in Temple Street a lot of ale was drunk.
Wartime songs were sung and locally billeted service personnel joined in, throwing their caps in the air.
Brian said: “There were to be many sore heads and red faces the next day!”
An account of the memories shared can be found on the Keynsham Town Council website.
Pictured below, Janet Clark, from Hanham, and others who gathered in the Memorial Park
Photos by Mike May
