Our residents had a wonderful morning of entertainment to celebrate VE Day here at Loose Valley Care Home on Wednesday 8 May.
On 8 May 1945 war was declared over and people took to the streets to celebrate with street parties to rejoice in the news. So to mark the special day, Jasmine entertained us with her wartime sing-along, which created such a special atmosphere. We all waved our Union Jacks and wore our hats, surrounded by red, white and blue bunting and balloons. We also had a Daily Sketch newspaper from VE Day in 1945.
Along with songs like ‘Rule Brittania‘, ‘God Save the Queen‘, the ‘Dad’s Army‘ theme tune and ‘In the Mood‘, Jasmine also played a speech by sir Winston Churchill, which was very rousing. She enjoyed chatting to our residents and reminiscing with them about their experiences during the conflict.
Recreation & Well Being Champion Paula made some gas mask boxes and had gathered information about how old our residents were in May 1945. She took to the mic to read out everybody’s ages – they ranged from 28 years old right down to the youngest being aged seven.
Some were working at the time – our eldest 102 year old lady was in the WAAF and another of our ladies was working on ammunitions in a factory in Maidstone when she was 20 yrs old. One of our ladies, who was 14 at the time, told us that her mum did not want her being an evacuee, so she stayed at home with her parents.
Another one of our ladies brought along a wonderful original photo of herself, aged nine, on VE Day in 1945 having a street party.
It was fantastic to share all our residents’ stories and memories as we all celebrated the special date together. Our chicken Henrietta also made an appearance and created a unique photo opportunity!
