A Look Back at VE Day in Earlston - 7th May 1945

Seventy five years ago, in the early hours of May 7th, 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies at their headquarters in Rheims,  thus bringing an end to the war in Europe. Later that day, the UK Government declared May 8th a national holiday which was to be known as VE Day or Victory in Europe Day.

In Earlston, and with little time to plan or prepare, the High Street and Square were decked out with flags and bunting. Shops and businesses closed and children were given two days off school.

In the afternoon, those with access to a wireless tuned in to the BBC and listened to Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister, give an address to nation. The following day, people would again gather round the radio to listen to King George VI, when he broadcast to “the peoples of the British Empire and Commonwealth”.

Many newspapers published VE-Day Souvenir issues. The Berwick Journal and Northumberland News managed to get its VE-Day edition on the streets by one o’clock that afternoon. The paper carried photographs of the local men who had been killed in action, the names of the wounded and prisoners-of-war, the details on the various air raids that had occurred in the area including the names of the twenty-five civilians who had been killed.

In the evening a short intercessory service of thanks giving was held in Ercildoune Church, conducted by Reverends Wylie and Gray. After the service, a bonfire was lit on the East Green.

Compared to the celebrations held to mark the end of World War One, these events were low key. In 1919, a Peace Celebration was held with a picnic for all villagers in the gardens at Cowdenknowes. The picnickers could cross the footbridge over the Leader river to where a family sports day had been organised in a field at Sorrowlessfield Farm. In the evening fireworks were set off from the Black Hill where a beacon was lit.

However, in May 1945 the UK and its Allies were still at war with Japan. Rationing of food, clothes and other essentials remained in force; military personnel who had been fighting in Europe were still liable to be sent to the war effort in the Far East, and sadly, there were still weekly casualty reports published in the newspapers. 

The government, fearing attacks by U-boats, maintained the Coastal Lighting Ban keeping black-out conditions in towns and villages along the coast. But at least the War Department censors had lifted the prohibition on publishing weather forecasts. Earlston, residents were told, they could look forward to light to moderate south-easterly winds with  occasional thundery rain or thunder storms and the temperature was to be warm. In any event, it rained.

On Wednesday evening a dance was held in the large hall of the Corn Exchange. The music was provided by musicians from the Polish army. The Polish Lancers were stationed in Earlston and in appreciation to the hospitality they had enjoyed presented the villagers with a Polish “Flash,” mounted and inscribed, to hang in the Reading Room. Lieutenant Kaysta made the presentation on behalf of the Commanding Officer. The Flash, which is in the colours of the Polish insignia of red and white and a gold stripe was suitably inscribed and was and mounted on black velvet by Mr A. W. Kerr, joiner and member of the Reading Room Committee. When the Lancers and their tanks arrived in the village, the tanks were parked on the rugby pitch which had been concreted over to stop the ground turning into a quagmire. Home games had to be played in Galashiels. Now Earlston Rugby Club could look forward to hosting games at its own ground.

 

Polish tanks in the Square - note the two little boys giving them a close look. 

                          The Polish wartime dance band

The dance presented the Earlston Girl’s Training Corps with the opportunity to raise money for the “Welcome Home Fund” and £35 was donated on the night. Along with the returning service personnel, an estimated 90,000 British prisoners-or-war held in Europe would be returning to the UK.

One such PoW was David Fleming who lived at Roosevelt Place in the village. David was a sapper in the Royal Engineers who had been taken prisoner in Crete in 1941. He had been held captive at Stalag 18A, Wolfsberg, a camp in Austria, until it was liberated by the Allies. David had previously been reported missing,  so although  he  arrived in Earlston a week after VE-Day, there was still cause for celebration.

The school children would have a double cause for celebration come August 1945 when the war with Japan ended. The Children’s Victory Trip Committee, headed by Mrs Campbell, the village doctor’s wife, and assisted by Mesdames Allan, Boyd, Redpath, Mercer, Frater, Sanderson, Kerr, Patterson, Cree, Amos, Semple, Syme, Hewitt and Herd, organised a trip to the seaside town of Spittal for all the school children (190 children travelled to Spittal), an event that would be held annually for decades to come under the auspices of the Church Sunday School and known as “the Spittal Trip”. The committee wound up its business in September 1945 and the remaining funds were donated to the Drygrange Children’s Hospital.

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With thanks to Auld Earlston member Jeff Price
for writing this article.  

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