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We hoped that it would be a joyous occasion, and it was!

The hall was decked with bunting and flags and looked fantastic. The cakes in the supper room were far too tempting to resist. Many people came wearing 1940s style clothes and several were willing to take part in the Fashion Show. There were land girls, one was wearing dungarees her friend’s mum had worn during the war and the Women’s Land Army (WLA) Armband, a spiv with watches sewn into the inside of his raincoat, plenty of scarves and bandanas tied around ladies heads, luscious red lips (make up was never rationed during the war), floral capacious aprons, men wearing braces, occasional medals, military jackets and some very glamorous tea dresses, a 1940s cocktail dress and a wedding dress made of parachute silk. A woollen bathing suit, bought at an Embsay Jumble Sale in the 1980s, closed the fashion show.

Embsay’s Millholme Dixieland Jazz Band set the atmosphere from the start and played for a second time for a sing-along when they were joined by Embsay’s Vera Lynn – Jennifer Stearn. There was even an Embsay version of ‘Little brown jug’ written specially for the occasion. Thank you, Helen, David, Diana and Alan.

We were thrilled to have Joyce Ayrton from Bower House Farm in Eastby with us. As she said herself at 99 she doesn’t get out very much. By contrast the youngest at the party was 4. The quiz and extracts from wartime diaries brought back memories for Joyce and others of the challenges faced by the armed and auxiliary forces but also of those left behind coping with rationing which continued until 1954. We heard about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and the way people pulled together and looked after each other. It felt very special and at times poignant.

Community spirit certainly wasn’t lacking in Embsay on Monday afternoon. At the end of the afternoon a conga line took some of us out of the hall across the road and into the car park and back again. Even the late Queen joined revellers in London on VE Day 80 years ago in Piccadilly Circus and in the Mall apparently joining a conga line through the famous Ritz Hotel.

Thank you to everyone who joined us to celebrate and remember the sacrifices made by so many for us to have the freedom we enjoy today. Thank you too for your generous donations amounting to £694 for SSAFA which provides welfare, health and support services for the UK’s military personnel (regular and reserves), veterans and their families. And thank you too to the many helpers who baked, served refreshments, welcomed people, decorated the hall, provided technical support, and entertained us. How blessed we are to live in such a beautiful and safe part of the world amid a caring community.