Hundreds mark VE Day 80th anniversary at Lancashire parade

Hundreds of people have taken part in a parade in Lancashire to mark the 80th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day.

The march through the Ribble Valley, led by the Accrington Pipe Band, saw around 500 residents walk from St John’s church in Read to the Constitutional Club in Simonstone on Monday.

A service was also held at the church where the national anthem was sung before the names of local soldiers killed during World War Two were read out and a wreath was laid.

Vicar at St John’s, Reverend Susan Ball, said: “You can’t imagine how much joy there must have been when the war was finally declared ‘over’.”

“We’re catching a little bit of that today,” she added.

The occasion commemorates Victory in Europe – the end of nearly six years of war on 8 May 1945 – when Nazi German forces surrendered unconditionally to the Allies in World War Two.

Reverend Claire McEnery, added: “Both my grandparents were in the war.

“One lost his life sadly, and my other was badly injured.”

The curate added: “While we celebrate, there is just that tinge of people who would have lost people, but it’s lovely that people have come together to recognise how important peace is in the world.”

Ruth Angus, who attended the celebrations, said her grandfather Arnold Mashiter had been a gunner in the East Lancashire Regiment, but died in a POW camp in Indonesia at the age of 32.

She said: “My uncle, who was only less than a year old never knew his grandfather.

“It’s good to be here to remember the sacrifice he made all those years ago.”

Resident Paul Howarth said the parade had also been a great community event, and a chance to catch up with people he had not seen for years.

He added: “Why can’t we do it every year?”